What Happens in the Riviera Stays in the Riviera
by Elizabeth Bathory
Summary: a multi-chaptered fic for the LJ Pepperony 100/200 challenge - After the "I am Iron Man" admission, Tony really needs to fix what he broke or face Pepper's wrath - a vacation away from it all might be just what is needed.
1. 53 Glow

What Happens in the Riviera…Stays in the Riviera

By Elizabeth Bathory

As the smoke and debris cleared from the aftermath of the overload of the reactor, Pepper Potts climbed to the roof as fast as she could up the gateway to hell which had just moments before been a shining beacon of commerce with Colonel James Rhodes and Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. following behind her.

She screamed out Tony's name as she got to the roof but once she rounded the edge, her heart stopped and her blood ran cold as she saw the prone, lifeless body in red armor on the ground with the light from his arc reactor flickering faintly. She screamed his name as she shined the flashlight on his body for Rhodey and Coulson.

"You have to get him out of there," Pepper gasped out as she followed behind them. She knelt behind Tony and cradled his head in her lap as Rhodey and Coulson got to work stripping him of the broken armor.

"Half of this is just falling off," Rhodey said with a grunt as he pulled off the battered chest piece and one of the arms. "Please tell me he's still alive and I am not doing this for his funeral."

Pepper put her fingers to Tony's neck and found a faint pulse there. "He's alive and he's going to stay that way."

"He needs to be in a hospital." Rhodey stated as he freed one of his legs.

"He needs to be home." Pepper countered as she looked down at Tony's broken form. "You know he will not consent to being in a hospital and he would check himself out as soon as he was able. If he is at home, I can make sure he rests and gets the time he needs to recover."

Rhodey did not like the idea but he could not argue with Pepper's reasoning. "Put him in the back of my truck…and the armor." Rhodey said to Coulson as they picked up Tony and carried him down off the roof.

Pepper slid into the back after Coulson and Rhodey got Tony inside and they went back up to the roof for his armor. She had one arm draped over his chest and the other behind his head, cradling him against her as she stroked his hair providing a comfort for her more than him in the sheer fact that he was alive.

Tony moved ever so slightly in Pepper's arms, letting his head curl up against her stomach as a quiet groan of pain slipped out.

"Tony?" Pepper gasped as she tried to support him as best as she could.

"Pepper?" Tony gasped out weakly as his arm took a hold of hers. He opened his eyes only for a moment as he looked up into her face.

"I've got you. You're safe now." Pepper told him softly.

Just those few words were enough to give Tony some comfort and allowed him to fall back into the peaceful oblivion of unconsciousness as his reactor was slowly growing stronger.

"We're going to have to give some sort of explanation for this." Rhodey sighed as he put the last of the armor into the bed of his truck and watched the fire fighters douse the flames. "This is going to be the front page of the times tomorrow."

"Let us handle this," Coulson said. "We have some experience with this. We'll arrange the conference tomorrow. I'll be in touch." He added before slipping into his car and driving off.

Rhodey sighed as he slipped behind the wheel of his truck and turned it on. "How's he doing?" he asked, looking back before putting the truck into drive.

"He'll be better once we get him home," Pepper whispered as she looked down at Tony's face, lit by the brightening glow of his chest piece.

Once they were back at the mansion, Rhodey practically carried Tony up to the bedroom where he set his still form down on the bed.

"Do you need any more help with him?" Rhodey offered.

"Thank you but no. I can handle this part." Pepper stated. "Not like I haven't had to do it before." She added as she thought of how many times she dealt with him passed out from drunkenness.

Rhodey nodded. "Call me if you need anything. I highly doubt I will be getting much sleep tonight."

"I will and try to," Pepper said as she thanked him again. "We may be walking into a firestorm tomorrow."

"I think that would be easier." Rhodey interjected before leaving.

As the sounds of Rhodey's truck faded, Pepper went back up to the bedroom to start getting Tony cleaned and patched up. She grabbed a small basin with hot water and soap and a wash cloth before going back into Tony's bedroom. Setting the items she carried on his night stand, Pepper sat on the edge of his bed watching him sleep for a moment before she got to work on getting his under armor off.

An hour later, Pepper had finally gotten Tony all cleaned up as best that she could, patched up his wounds and tucked him into bed all with only minimal disturbance to him. After dumping out the water that was tinted with blood and grime, Pepper went back to Tony's bedroom one more time to check on him before she stole away in one of the guest rooms for the night. He had curled up on his side with the blankets pulled up to his ears but he was sleeping and sleeping peacefully at that. Pepper placed a soft kiss on his temple and whispered 'Good night' before she turned in herself.

By the time the sun had risen and Pepper was fully awake again, her Blackberry was buzzing with several voicemails – some from Coulson, some from Board members and one from Rhodey. Not even wanting to look at the morning headlines, Pepper noted that Coulson had everything all set up and they needed a press conference today to minimize the damage. She told him that she could have something set up by three. In truth, she could have it done much earlier but she wanted to give Tony as much time to recover as possible. The Board members she gracefully dodged to get them out of the way until the "official" story was out. Then, she finally called back Rhodey.

She dialed and the phone barely rang once. "You called?"

"How's he doing?" Rhodey asked with genuine concern for his best friend.

"He's sleeping and I want him to stay that way for as long as possible."

Rhodey knew there was more to this. "Seriously…how is he?"

"His reactor is getting brighter as each hour he rests passes." Pepper stated. "Tony told me that his reactor recharges when he doesn't have to use its full capacity. Now, since that is the only one he has because the other was destroyed with Obadiah, I want him to take it easy."

"Can he build a new one?"

"Once he is back to full working order, I don't doubt it. I just hope he doesn't make me put it in again."

"So when's the press conference?" Rhodey asked.

"I set it for three to give Tony as much time away from the flash bulbs as possible." Pepper replied.

"Will he be ready by then?"

"I'll wake him up in plenty of time so everyone will be pleased with the "official" version of what happened."

"So I guess Coulson already got a hold of you?"

"Before sunrise there were several messages from him." Pepper sighed. Coulson was nothing if not thorough.

"This will blow over like everything else does." Rhodey stated. "This is Tony and Tony's antics usually go away once someone finds something else to gawk at."

"I hope you're right this time." Pepper stated. "I'll talk to you later on." She said as she hung up the phone.

It was shortly before two o'clock when Pepper ventured up the stairs to wake Tony for the press conference. She loathed doing it since he was getting the much needed rest he missed so often but damage control needed to be done.

Pepper slowly opened the door to the darkened room to the sound of Tony snoring. He had hardly moved since she put him to bed more than twelve hours earlier. Pepper walked softly along the carpeted floor and gently put her hand on his shoulder to wake him.

"Mr. Stark…Tony…you need to wake up now." Pepper said sweetly as she let the weight of her hand bring him around.

Tony stirred slowly under Pepper's touch. He rolled over on his back and the bruises on his face stood out as a very dark and noticeable reminder of what happened. His eyes struggled open and he smiled weakly when he saw Pepper looking down at him.

"Hi," he said through a yawn. "Is it time for breakfast?"

"More like a late lunch," Pepper replied. "You need to start getting ready."

"Ready for what?" Tony asked as he stretched and winced against the pain he was in as he sat up in bed.

"A press conference to clear up what happened last night. Your statement has been prepared already." Pepper said as she started to scan through Tony's closet for a suit to wear.

"What? You don't trust me to come up with this on the fly?" Tony asked as he swung his legs out from under his warm blankets.

"Not after what happened last time," Pepper sighed as she shoved his clothes and an espresso into his hands. "Shower…now. We need to leave in about thirty."

Tony groaned as he got out of bed and trudged into the bathroom, showing how much he did not want to do this.

Just after three, Tony was sitting in his office while Pepper skillfully hid the bruises and scrapes on his face while he read over the newspaper.

"Iron Man." That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. But it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold titanium alloy. It's kind of evocative imagery anyway." Tony said to himself as Pepper pulled one of the bandages off his nose.

"Here's your alibi." Coulson said as he handed Tony the cards with his statement on it.

"Ok…" Tony said as he skimmed them over.

"You were on your yacht. We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night and sworn statements from fifty of your guests." Coulson interjected calmly.

"See, I was thinking it was just Pepper and me on the island," Tony said as Pepper pulled off another bandage just a bit harder than the first to show her displeasure with that statement.

"That's what happened. Read it word for word." Coulson reiterated.

Tony skimmed the cards again. "There's nothing about Stane in here."

"It's being handled." Coulson said smoothly, as if he prepared for anything. "He's on vacation…small aircraft have such poor safety records."

"What about the whole cover story that it's a body guard? That's a little flimsy, don't you think?" Tony questioned.

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark." Coulson said. "Just stick to the official statement and soon all of this will be behind you." He said as he turned to leave.

As Agent Coulson was about to leave, Pepper stopped him.

"Agent Couslon, I just wanted to say thank you very much for all of your help." She said with a smile.

"That's what we do. You'll be hearing from us."

"From the Strategic Homeland...

Coulson interrupted her. "Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D."

Pepper picked up Tony's jacket and started to help him into it as he looked over the cards one last time.

"You know…it's actually not that bad. Even I don't think I'm Iron Man." Tony said as he slipped his jacket on.

"You're not Iron Man." Pepper reminded him.

"If I were Iron Man, I'd have this girlfriend who knew my true identity. She'd be a wreck; she'd always be worrying I was going to die, yet so proud of the man I've become; she'd be wildly conflicted, which would only make her more crazy about me." Tony said as he turned around to look at Pepper. "Tell me you never think about that night."

"What night? Oh, are you talking about the night where we danced and went up to the roof, and you went downstairs to get me a drink and you left me there, by myself?" Pepper asked evenly as she fixed his handkerchief in his pocket.

"Uh-huh." Tony said rather dumbly as he got the taste of his foot in his mouth."

"Thought so." Pepper said with a small smirk as she fixed his tie. "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

"Yes, that will be all, Miss. Potts." Tony said quickly as he headed out to the podium.

"Mr. Stark will now read a prepared statement and he will not be taking any questions," Rhodey said as he stepped aside when he saw Tony come in.

Tony stepped behind the podium and almost seemed nervous. "It's been a while since I have been in front of all of you so I'm going to stick to the cards this time." Tony joked as he pulled out the cards. "There's been speculations that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop... "

Christine Everheart quickly interrupted. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that..."

Tony quickly cut her off. "I know that it's confusing. It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, on insinuating that I'm a superhero."

Christine now cut him off. "I never said you were a superhero."

"Didn't?" Tony questioned, realizing what he just did and needed to recover from.

"Mmm-mmm." Everheart nodded.

"Well, good, because that would be outlandish and, uh, fantastic." Tony exclaimed as he was trying to cover his tracks. "I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public."

Rhodey saw where this was going and needed to stop a potential train wreck in progress. He leans in and whispers to Tony, "Just stick to the cards, man."

Tony nods. "Yeah, okay." He says as he holds up his notes and pauses, and then puts them down. "The truth is... I am Iron Man."

With those seven words, the press core went nuts as cameras flashed and reporters shouted questions left and right.

Pepper cringed as those words left Tony's mouth. Why couldn't he listen to direction for just once? Just then, Pepper's Blackberry started to vibrate and glow.

"You have 346 new messages." The screen read.

Pepper sighed in disgust as she looked up at Tony. He was going to pay for this.


	2. 175 Impulse

As the dust and debris settled from the tornado of a press conference, a storm of epic proportions was brewing in the floors above as one Colonel James Rhodes flew up the stairs followed by one very pissed off Pepper Potts to teach a certain CEO some humility.

Without giving any warning or that famous restraint that the military life had ingrained into him, Rhodey flung Tony's office door open and his right fist met Tony's head with a hard thud which sent Tony to the floor

"What in hell is wrong with you?" Rhodey spat as Tony tried to get back up only to be pushed down again.

"What are you talking about?" Tony shot back as he put a hand up to his now bloody nose.

"I don't want to hear it. Do you have something wrong with you in that you can't follow simple directions? Ready, fire, aim was not going to work here." Rhodey spat as his tirade was just getting started and not letting Tony get even a syllable in. "All you had to do was read the damn cards and you seemed to be physically incapable of that. Ever since you were a kid, you fly off the handle when someone baits you. Call me when you finally learn some damn self control." He roared before walking out of the office.

"Pepper? Can you give me a hand here?" Tony asked with a small smile of relief when he saw Pepper standing behind Rhodey as he tried to get up.

"Help yourself this time," Pepper replied icily as she crossed her arms and did not move from the door frame. "I can't talk to you right now." She said as she turned to leave.

Tony's smile quickly faded when he felt Pepper's shards of ice hit him. He scrambled to his feet. "Pepper, wait!" he screamed out only to have his office door slammed in his face. He stumbled backwards and hit the floor again. What in hell had just happened?

Pepper had quickly caught up to Rhodey as he walked away and when she did, she smacked him hard in the shoulder.

"What was that for?" Rhodey shouted as he rubbed the spot he got hit.

"You didn't have to hit him." Pepper spat back. "You gave him a bloody nose."

"I'll apologize later but he deserved it this time." Rhodey countered. "Most of the time I hold back but this time…impulse took over."

"Next time, try to restrain things a bit better." Pepper shot back. "I may be angry with him but that does not mean I want him hurt."

Half an hour later, Tony was reclining in the back of his limo alone as Happy set off to take him home.

"How are you feeling, sir?" Happy asked with concern when he noticed Tony putting the glass of ice over the bridge of his nose.

"I've been better. Do you know where Pepper ran off to?"

"I took her back to the mansion a little while ago. She seemed extremely angry. Excuse me for saying this, but did you do something wrong?" Happy asked.

"I am still trying to figure that out," Tony said as he looked down at the blood stains on his white shirt. "I just told the truth."

Tony walked into the mansion ready for a battle when he saw Pepper dealing with her flooded inbox thanks to his little announcement.

"I believe I'm owed an explanation." Tony snapped.

"I believe you're not." Pepper quickly countered without even looking up at him.

"I am not owed an explanation when you walk out on me?" Tony asked with a bit of disbelief. "What the hell did I do to deserve this?"

Pepper looked up from her laptop with a cold glare. "Well…let's see here. In addition to not sticking to the cards and blurting out to the entire world that you are in fact Iron Man, you didn't think about how that simple little admission would impact those around you and since you didn't use that billion dollar brain of yours, you have made my life and my job about ten thousand times harder. So besides for all of that…you did absolutely nothing."

Tony was taken back at Pepper's full on attack and found himself speechless for a moment. "I know I didn't stick to the cards but for some reason I just couldn't lie at that moment. I acted on impulse."

"That isn't going to cut it this time, Mr. Stark." Pepper said emotionlessly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do picking up the mess you made." She told him without even looking at him once. This time, she was too angry.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," Tony said genuinely before heading down to his workshop to begin the repairs on his suit and build himself a new chest piece.

Over the course of the week after "The Announcement," Tony tried his best to stay out of Pepper's hair to limit how much she snapped at him or gave him that frigid stare. He watched silently from the background as she spent hours each day, often working until the early hours of the morning and still coming in by six with very little sleep, as she meticulously dealt with the emails, phone calls, interview requests and paparazzi stalking the perimeters of the property. Tony's heart broke as he saw her consume way too much caffeine and very little to eat and just going on pure rage and adrenaline. It took a few days before the ice melted even the slightest bit. She wasn't about to bite his head off any longer but he knew she was still extremely angry with him. If he had thought about what he was going to say before the words left his mouth…he never would have spoken those infamous seven words.

It was when the ice started to thaw a bit that Tony had an idea. He and Pepper needed to get away from the circus…a vacation of sorts…just to regroup and Tony could apologize properly.

"Jarvis? Bring up some travel sites for me." Tony said as he sat down in front of his computer.

"Where would you like sites for, sir?"

"What's nice this time of year?"

"The Mediterranean is beautiful this time of year, sir."

"Bring those up." Tony said as he was quickly provided with a long list of places alone the Mediterranean. He scanned through them quickly and one quickly jumped out, Europe's playground – Monte Carlo. "Give me listings for high end hotels in Monte Carlo."

"As you wish, sir." Jarvis responded as a listing of hotels in Monaco appeared.

Tony scanned through several of the websites that offered the highest of luxury and the best beaches and finally settling on Hotel Le Méridien, a very modern resort perched upon a rocky outcropping overlooking the blue-green waters of the Mediterranean and boasting the only private beach of any hotel in the principality of Monaco. It seemed perfect. So perfect that Tony picked up the phone and made the reservation himself without a second thought.

After making the reservation, Tony was addressed with a different problem – how to get Pepper to go when she was barely speaking to him. He leaned back in his chair and thought about it. He had to be careful or this could blow up in his face. Tony knew he could not come out and order her and he couldn't tell her because it would ruin the surprise. He had to invite her as sweetly as possible. This involved help and he could only think of one person who would help him right now as he dialed the phone.

"Mr. Stark's office…"

"Mary, it's me."

"Good afternoon, sir. How can I help you?"

"I have a few favors to ask of you."

"Anything I can do to be of service, sir. What will you be requiring?"

"First, I need you to clear mine and Pepper's schedules for two weeks starting from Sunday."

"Certainly, sir. Will there be anything else?"

"Yeah. I'm going to be sending some flowers to the office tomorrow for Pepper and I need you to get her there without directly telling her why. I am also going to make sure she has her favorite restaurant deliver lunch for her. Can you do that?"

"Of course, sir. It would be a pleasure." Mary replied. "Will there be anything else?"

"Nope, that's it. Thanks. You're a life saver, Mary." Tony said with a smile as he hung up and started working on his invitation.

Around noon on Friday, Pepper showed up at Stark Industries after receiving a call from Mary, Tony's secretary, saying that there was a package that required her immediate attention. She walked into her office and found a huge arrangement of flowers and a candlelight lunch from her favorite Italian restaurant set up on her desk. Pepper sat down with a small smile on her lips as she picked up the card set by the vase.

'_Pepper,_

_Consider this the first of many apology gifts for me being a complete idiot. Second, give yourself the rest of the day off and go home and pack for two weeks. Make sure you include a few exquisite things for nighttime, a cute bikini and your passport. Third, meet me at the jet on Saturday night at seven for apology gift number two with your bags. I am really sorry and I want to make it up to you._

_Tony_'

Pepper was a bit taken back by the seeming sincerity in Tony's note but how could she just up and leave when there was so much to be done. Despite his efforts, Pepper knew she would need to decline.

Once back in the mansion, Pepper was forced to seek Tony out to tell him she could no go with him. The first place she looked was the workshop.

Pepper descended the stairs to find Tony up to his shoulders in the chest piece of his armor doing repairs. She turned his music down and approached him.

Tony heard his music turn down and for once he didn't say anything. He was trying to get on her good graces again.

"Tony, thank you for the flowers and lunch but I can't go with you." She said firmly.

Tony came out of the armor with a saddened look on his face. "I want you to come with me. You deserve a break and I am trying to give it to you." He said honestly.

"There's too much to do here. I can't just go jet setting with you whenever you want." Pepper stated. "I'm sorry…no."

Every no was like one of the pieces of shrapnel going into Tony's heart. "I had our schedules cleared and you can even bring the laptop and Crackberry with you if that makes you feel better. I want you to come with me. No…I need you to come with me. Please, Pepper…" Tony pleaded with sadness in his eyes.

Pepper saw that look in his eyes and she knew he would not give up and would resort to begging and bribes if necessary to get his way. She sighed deeply. "I'll consider it. If I show up on Saturday night at seven, I'll go. If not…you know my answer."

Tony nodded even though it was not the answer he wanted to hear. "I can agree to that. I do hope you decide yes."

"We'll see." Pepper said sharply before heading back upstairs.

Saturday evening quickly rolled around and Tony was waiting on the steps of his jet fifteen minutes before seven, hoping that Pepper would take him up on his offer. He hadn't heard any clues from her since she left his workshop Friday afternoon and he was starting to think she may actually mean no. The feeling got worse when seven o'clock came and went with no sign of Pepper.

By half past, the realization that Pepper was not going to come hit Tony hard and he slowly turned to head into the plane alone. He had just hit the top step when the Rolls pulled up and Happy stepped out. Hogan went to the trunk and pulled out several suitcases and loaded them on to the plane and then went back to the car and opened the back door.

Pepper stepped out of the back of the car gracefully and looked up the steps at Tony before she started her ascent.

As soon as he saw her red hair coming out of the car, Tony sighed in relief and smiled as he offered his hand to Pepper to enter the plane and ordered the pilot to take off as soon as they were set. A near heart attack averted.


	3. 81 Gamble

The fifteen hour flight from Los Angeles to Monte Carlo was largely a silent one. As soon as they were in the air at a high enough altitude, Pepper pulled out her laptop and continued the exhausting labor that was handling the PR mess that Tony had decided to make with his little coming out party. Even though Tony was sitting directly across from her, she barely even looked at him much less spoke to him.

Being ignored directly to his face was an entirely new sensation for Tony and it was one he did not particularly like. Here Pepper was not two feet from him and he felt a wall between them with forbid him to speak out of fear of repercussions. To keep himself busy, he pulled out a PSP to keep his hand and brain occupied but it did not last for long. Just the faint scents of Pepper's shampoo and perfume were driving him nuts and he could not take it any longer. Sadly silent, Tony set the game down on the table in between him and Pepper and got up from the chair and walked back into the small bedroom that was situated off the main cabin. He instructed the flight attendants that he was not to be disturbed until about an hour before landing and then he shut the door behind him and flopped down on the bed in the darkness.

Nearly four hours had gone by before Pepper even looked up to notice that Tony was not sitting across from her, trying to pester her.

"Where did Mr. Stark go to?" Pepper asked almost dumbly to the first flight attendant that had walked by.

"Mr. Stark went to bed about four hours ago. He asked to be woken up an hour before we land but I am sure I could get him if you need him."

Pepper waved her off. "No…let him sleep." She replied. "I was just curious since I hadn't heard him in a while."

"Yes, we aren't used to such a quiet flight yet," the flight attendant stated. "Can I get you anything, Ms. Potts?"

"Some decaf please," Pepper asked. "I'm going to have to try to sleep at some point in time." She explained as the girl left to retrieve her request.

About a half an hour before they were scheduled to land, Tony reappeared impeccably dressed in a black suit, white shirt and a red and black striped tie that was only loosely knotted at the moment as he sat down to put on his shoes.

"Do we have an appointment that you did not tell me about?" Pepper asked as she took note of how Tony was dressed.

Tony shook his head as he tied his shoes. "Where we are going has a certain standard of decorum and showing up in a t-shirt and jeans would give off one hell of a bad impression." He explained as he tightened his tie and sat back down across from Pepper.

Suddenly Pepper felt almost self-conscious about her appearance, which was still professionally impeccable, and felt the need to quickly freshen up before landing.

As the plane touched down on the runway, Pepper finally got a hint as to where they were. As the plane taxied down the runway she saw a sign in both French and English that said 'Welcome to Nice Côte d'Azur International Airport' and she gasped.

"What are we doing in France?" Pepper snapped quickly and perhaps a little too abruptly. She had no idea that Tony's little break involved Europe.

"This is a stop over. The car that should be waiting for us on the runway will take us to our final destination." Tony said calmly even though he was a bit hurt by Pepper's less than happy reaction.

"Where are we going?" Pepper demanded.

"It's a surprise…apology present number two." Tony said as the plane came to a stop and the door opened for them to exit.

Once they descended the steps, just as Tony said, a black Mercedes was waiting for them. The driver moved quickly to gather the luggage and help them into the waiting card. Tony slipped the address to where they were going to the driver and then relaxed back against the back seat, subsequently driving Pepper mad since he wasn't telling her anything.

The fifteen mile journey from the airport to Monte Carlo took nearly forty minutes but it was well worth it to see the reaction on Pepper's face when she saw the Hotel Le Méridien. Shock and awe were the understatements of the century and it brought a smile to Tony's face. After all these years and every place that she had gone with him, Tony could still impress her with some things.

As the bell captain took care of their bags, Tony was a gentleman and offered his arm to Pepper to escort her in, even though he knew damn well how angry she was at him. That was why it surprised him so when she actually took it without an argument.

"Monsieur bonsoir," the concierge said warmly as Tony approached the desk.

"Buona sera," Tony responded as a silent hint.

"Italiano? Va bene signore. Posso aiutarLa?"

"Io ho una prenotazione per due persone."

"Quale il nome per la prenotazione?"

"Stark…Anthony Stark."

The concierge typed the name in and the reservation quickly appeared. "Io vederla qui…per il suite presidenziale per due persone. Come si chiama l'altra persona?"

"Signorina Virginia Potts." Tony said quickly.

"Per quanti giorni resterate?"

"Due settimane…quattordici giorni." Tony replied. "Quando ho fatto la prenotazione, ho chiesto per amenità speciali. Io vorrei fare certo che ci sono pronti."

The concierge looked Tony's request up in the computer but did not find anything. "Mi dispiace, Signor Stark ma c'è un errore quale io posso corregiare. Per quali amenità speciali chiedere?"

Tony sighed in irritation. "Io voglio due machine, una per me e una per Signorina Potts per varie gite, le spese a tutt'altro noi avremo bisogno. Io voglio i fiori fresche nella camera di Signorina Potts ogni giorno durante la nostra resta qui e una lista di servizi della spa per lei. Anche, per la domanda della mia carta di credito, la firma della Signorina Potts è uguale a mia. Lei ha libertà totale per tutti i negozi e servizi. Hai capito?"

"Si certo, Signor Stark. Io capisco. Come pagherà?"

Tony pulled out his wallet and set his credit card on the desk. Pepper was a bit surprised that he even knew where they were. The concierge promptly swiped the card and then returned into Tony.

"La camera è già pronta. Benvenuti all' albergo Le Méridien." The concierge stated as he handed Tony the keys and ordered someone to quickly take the bags up to the massive suite on the roof of the hotel.

As they followed the bellman and ascended in the glass elevator to the roof, Pepper looked over at Tony in shock. "When did you learn to speak Italian and perfect Italian no less?" she asked in shock.

"My mother taught me when I was little. She wanted me to be able to converse with some of my relatives on her side."

"Your mother was Italian?" Pepper asked, not remembering seeing this bit of info any where before.

"Half." Tony corrected her. "Her maiden name was Carbonell which my grandfather had changed from Carbonelli as to make things a bit easier and have fewer stereotypes thrown around."

"Why didn't you ever say anything about that?" Pepper asked in shock.

"I didn't exactly think it was important," Tony said with a shrug as they reached the roof.

Pepper sighed as she entered the room. She wanted to tell him that little bits of personal information like that should be shared with someone you cared about but she didn't feel like wasting her breath.

Tony gave the bell hop a rather large tip before turning back to Pepper. "I had them set everything up in your room already and you have free reign over my credit cards for shopping or anything else you want. There's a car at your disposal twenty-four hours a day and I'll do my damnedest to stay out of your hair."

Pepper looked inside the room and saw a beautiful vase filled with exotic flowers as well as a bottle of wine and a basket of fruit next to the spa listing. It truly was beautiful and she wanted to thank Tony but when she turned around, he was not directly behind her. "Tony?"

Tony came out of his room when he heard his name called. He had loosened his tie and was shoving his wallet in his pocket with his cell phone. "Did I miss something?"

Pepper shook her head. "Are you going somewhere?"

"The casino," Tony replied. "I told you I'm going to try to stay out of your hair. Remember this is a vacation…take advantage of all the benefits I give you for once. I'll catch ya later. Don't wait up." He said with a small smile as he exited the suite. Once the door was closed behind him, he exhaled the breath he was holding. He knew damn well that he was taking a huge gamble thinking that space may allow Pepper to cool off so he was in her good graces again. As Tony headed down to the lobby, preparing to spend the rest of the night at the tables and his mind hadn't started to focus on blackjack yet, he realized that leaving Pepper alone could also potentially blow up in his face.

It was late morning when Tony had finally made his way out of the casino and headed back up to the room. Since he had a fourteen hour nap on the flight over, staying up all night was easy and he still had energy and winnings to spare. He bounded up to the room only to change into his swimsuit and hit the pool and maybe persuade Pepper to join him.

Tony opened the door to a largely silent room. He had thought that Pepper had taken him up on his offer and headed to the spa or shopping until he saw her open laptop and Crackberry lying ready for use on the table. Tony sighed sadly as he went into his bedroom to change and get out of the room before Pepper saw him. It irritated and saddened him in the same breath as he left the room once more that even on a vacation that was designed to give her a break, Pepper just wouldn't quit working for even just a little while.

Tony spent most of the afternoon down at the pool taking in the sun and doing a few laps. Every once and a while though he would look up and scan the decks to see if he saw Pepper at all trying to enjoy the vacation he was trying to give her. Every time he looked up for her, there was not one sign. Before heading back up to the room in the early evening, he stopped by the front desk to see if Pepper had scheduled any spa time or even ordered room service and he found out that she hadn't made even one request the entire day. Tony sighed and was a little put off that she couldn't even fake relaxing as he headed back up to the suite to change for dinner.

When Tony entered the room once more, he found very little of it changed since he was there that morning but for one exception, Pepper was seated on the couch working feverishly on her laptop. So much so, she didn't even greet him when he came in.

"Have you been at that all day?" Tony asked rather bluntly and neglecting to hide his annoyance.

Pepper's face turns nearly the color of her fiery hair and her temper is seconds from exploding as she gives Tony a look that could easily knock him dead to the floor.

Tony puts up a hand to stop her when he quickly realizes the taste of his foot in his mouth and says, "Sorry, I am an idiot for asking that. Let me make it up to you and take you to dinner."

"I don't have time for dinner, Tony," Pepper snapped back at him. "I have just finally gotten on top of the media firestorm you set off and I don't want to fall behind."

There was that ice again that pierced through Tony's heart so well. "But I don't want you getting sick on me or passing out on me because you haven't eaten anything." He pleaded with her. "It's just dinner, Pepper. It will do you some good to get out of the room for a while."

"Well if this isn't the pot calling the kettle black?" Pepper stated at the apparent role reversal here.

"No, it would be the kettle calling the Potts black," Tony shot back quickly but then regretted the sarcasm when he saw the look that screamed either his head or his balls were about to be served up on a silver platter with a bottle of chianti. "And how often do I say no when you remind me that I need food and air that doesn't smell like car exhaust?"

Pepper looked up when Tony said that. He did have a point there. He had never denied her when she urged him to eat, sleep and get out of the garage. Reluctantly, she closed her laptop and set down her Blackberry. "Where are we going for dinner?"

_Translation:_

"_Monsieur bonsoir," (Good evening sir)_

"_Buona sera," Tony responded as a silent hint. (good evening)_

"_Italiano? Va bene signore. Posso aiutarLa?" (Italian? Very well sir. How may I help you?)_

"_Io ho una prenotazione per due persone." ( I have a reservation for 2)_

"_Quale il nome per la prenotazione?"(What is the name on the reservation?)_

"_Io vederla qui…per il suite presidenziale per due persone. Come si chiama l'altra persona?" ( I see it here...for the presidential suite for 2 people. What is the name of the other person?)_

"_Signorina Virginia Potts." _

"_Per quanti giorni resterate?" (How many days are you staying)_

"_Due settimane…quattordici giorni. Quando ho fatto la prenotazione, ho chiesto per amenità speciali. Io vorrei fare certo che ci sono pronti." (2 weeks - 14 days. When I made the reservation I asked for special amenities. I want to make certain they are ready.)_

"_Mi dispiace, Signor Stark ma c'è un errore quale io posso corregiare. Per quali amenità speciali chiedere?" (I am sorry, Mr. Stark but there is an error which I can correct. What amenities did you ask for?)_

"_Io voglio due machine, una per me e una per Signorina Potts per varie gite, le spese a tutt'altro noi avremo bisogno. Io voglio i fiori fresche nella camera di Signorina Potts ogni giorno durante la nostra resta qui e una lista di servizi della spa per lei. Anche, per la domanda della mia carta di credito, la firma della Signorina Potts è uguale a mia. Lei ha libertà totale per tutti i negozi e servizi. Hai capito?" (I want two cars, one for me and one for Ms. Potts for various trips, shopping and anything else we may need. I want fresh flowers in Ms. Potts' room every day that we are here and a list of spa services for her. Also for the question of my credit card - her signature is as good as mine. She has total freedom with it for all stores and services. Understood?")_

"_Si certo, Signor Stark. Io capisco. Come pagherà?" (Certainly, Mr Stark. I understand. How will you be paying?)_

"_La camera è già pronta. Benvenuti all' albergo Le Méridien." (The room is already ready. Welcome.)_


	4. 151 Luck

Tony sat quietly waiting in the living room as Pepper got ready for dinner. At her albeit reluctant acceptance, he managed to shower and get dressed in record time and now he was forced to quell his nervous energy while he waited. One thing he could never figure out is why it always took women so long to get ready but somehow it always seems worth the wait.

And she was definitely worth the wait when she appeared. Pepper stepped out of her room in a small black cocktail dress that made Tony check to make sure his heart was still beating. "I am a very lucky man right now," he whispered. "I don't deserve this."

When Pepper stepped back into the living room, she had to force herself not to fidget, especially when Tony took her hand to take her to the restaurant. All of this seemed to strike up memories of the night they danced and then he left her on the roof. She may not admit it but she often thought about what may have happened if he had come back with her drink. Pepper had to shove that thought to the back of her mind. This was just dinner and no harm could come from dinner.

Tony offered his arm to her again and escorted Pepper down to L'intempo Restaurant and had asked for a table on the terrace away from everyone else to avoid as many crowds as possible. The terrace overlooked the beach and the ocean which was lit by candlelight on every table while palm trees and large lit water fountains separated the restaurant from the rest of the world. The large, wicker chairs where extremely plush and easy to relax in while you dined at the glass topped tables. When they were seated, Tony took the liberty of ordering a bottle of Pinot Noir which earned him a dark look and some protests from Pepper.

"I thought you were trying to cut back on your drinking." Pepper said in a serious tone.

"It's just a few glasses of wine with dinner," Tony protested with an aggravated sigh. "It's not like I am downing a bottle of Grey Goose here. Relax, please."

Pepper knew she wasn't going to win this battle so she decided to change the subject. "So how did you do at the casino?" she asked as she looked over the menu.

"I did fairly well," Tony said slyly. "I would have done better if I had my Lady Luck next to me."

"What exactly is fairly well?" Pepper countered, ignoring his comment.

"I think I ended up about 250k at the blackjack tables and 750k on Roulette. I hope to go back tonight, if possible." Tony said, extending an invitation in a round about way.

"Well I hope your luck continues." Pepper said to him as she took a sip of her wine.

"So do I," Tony replied as he is looking only at Pepper when he said it. His eyes totally betray what he is really after…Pepper by his side, in his heart and in his bed if he gets his way.

Pepper saw the way Tony was looking at her and she knew that look. He had the same look when they danced and just before he dropped the 'I am Iron Man' bomb and had to look away before the blush met her cheeks again. "Were you able to do anything fun during the day?"

Tony shrugged. "I hit the pool and the beach. I wanted to check out a few of the historical tours but they are no fun alone."

Pepper shied away from responding. She would have really liked to join Tony but work had come first like it always did and it was his fault that she was working so hard. She was very tempted to say that she would have liked to join him if she wasn't working to cover his tail but thought the better of it to keep her mouth closed about that for the moment. "I would like to do some shopping at some time." She stated instead of what she wanted to say.

"That sounds like fun. Just say when and you have my credit cards and me to lug all the stuff you buy at your disposal."

Pepper didn't know what to say to Tony's quick response. Clearly, he was very eager to spend time with her but what she said was not intended to be an invitation and she fell silent again.

The lull in conversation grew to nearly be uncomfortable, almost if they were strangers but was luckily broken by the waiter taking their orders. By the time the salad had arrived, Pepper decided that non-committed chitchat was the way to go to avoid that look that Tony gave her before. Her anger with him had not yet abated and he being all cute and flirty was not going to go over well.

"How did you pick this hotel?" Pepper asked in between bites.

"I had Jarvis limit down the choices and then I picked this one because it had the best of everything I was looking for."

"What made you decide to bring me to Monte Carlo, Tony?"

"I thought you needed a bit of fun and Vegas was certainly out of the question now since what happened last time," Tony responded with a shrug.

"But why Monte Carlo? There are many other places we could have gone to have fun." Pepper asked as their dinner arrived.

Tony looked down this time and not at her. "I wanted to impress you," he said quietly. "And my mom would be proud that I have kept up with my Italian."

Now this was something that Pepper could wrap her head around. She was genuinely interested in how he learned Italian and learned it so well. "You said that your mother taught you, right? Why did she want to do that?"

"My mom's family kinda had a rift in it after my grandfather changed the spelling of their last name." Tony started off as he took a few sips of his wine. "My mom's Uncle Marco had the biggest problem with it since he was my grandfather's brother. He was a big traditionalist and when his older brother went all Americano on him, he flipped out and practically disowned everyone on this side of the ocean. He was just starting to calm down when my parents got married. Once Uncle Marco heard my mother wasn't marrying an Italian and was marrying one of the inventors of the Atomic bomb instead, he flipped out again and refused to come to the wedding and didn't speak to anyone for over five years." Tony said while he ate.

"When he finally decided to come out of the woodwork again, it was for a family reunion that had been planned by my grandfather to try to mend some fences. For some reason, my mom always liked Uncle Marco and when she heard that he was actually coming, she decided that it would really impress him if I could speak Italian. She figured that she could probably teach me relatively quickly since they had already figured out how smart I was and I needed to be able to understand and talk to my relatives since most didn't speak a lot of English.

"So to try to teach me Italian, my mom would only speak to me in Italian so I would have to figure out what she was saying which drove my dad positively nuts, even though he thought it was sexy as hell when she spoke it but he only liked to hear it for himself in moments that I wasn't supposed to know about. So after a few intense months of practice, I was doing well enough to sorta hold my own when the reunion came around. My mom had me practice on all the other relatives first before Uncle Marco even arrived." He continued, holding Pepper's undivided attention as he finished the last few bites of his dinner.

"Uncle Marco came on the second day since he liked to make an entrance and having already heard about me. He wasn't there more than half an hour before I insulted him…"

Just as they were about to order dessert, Tony was then interrupted mid-sentence by someone tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Can I help you?" he asked, a little annoyed at the disturbance.

"Oh my god, it is you. I told her it was you," this crazed young American girl started to say for the group she was with. "Oh my god, you're Iron Man aren't you? Ladies, come over here." She said as she waved her friends over. "I can't believe we are in the same hotel as Iron Man. Who would have thought we would have to come half way around the world to meet him? I just have to tell you that we think you are so hot and it is totally awesome that you are Iron Man. Can we have your autograph and a few quick pics?"

It was almost fate that those pain-in-the-ass girls showed up. Pepper was just starting to relax, looking forward to something called 'Il morte di cioccolato' for dessert and actually enjoying hearing Tony's story and those girls just had to bring up Iron Man again and interrupt what had been a pleasant and peaceful dinner. This was the exact damn reason why she had not yet left the hotel and been able to enjoy herself and now she was denied her chocolate addiction. Her smile quickly vanished as she threw her napkin down on the table and pushed her chair back. "And you wonder why I am still angry with you?" she said with a snit before walking away from the table and back to the room without even looking back.

Tony was trying as politely as possible to get rid of the overly peppy fan girls since he quickly noticed how it affected Pepper but he didn't move fast enough before Pepper left, pissed off again. By the time all the now rather disappointed girls had cleared out, Pepper was no where in sight.


	5. 54 React

After quickly paying the check, Tony bolted back up to the room in the hopes of catching Pepper before she did something stupid…like leave.

He opened the suite door and scanned the room quickly, finding Pepper in the bathroom taking down her hair.

As soon as Pepper saw Tony's reflection in the mirror, she turned and walked right past him without even a hello. Yes, she was still pissed off at him.

"Pepper, will you just calm down. It was just some stupid girls. It's no big deal." Tony said in his own defense as he followed behind her, trying to get her attention.

Pepper's temper flared up again at his pathetic attempt at appeasement. "That is not even what I am really mad about." She spat back at him as she kept moving away from him. "It is the fact that anyone and everyone knows who Iron Man is and that is what is making me mad." Pepper then stopped and turned on Tony, shoving her finger into his chest right above the arc reactor. "You truly don't understand what you have done do you?" she blatantly asked as she looked directly into his confused eyes. "You know what…I am not having this conversation. I am getting a horrible headache and I am just going to go to bed. Maybe you can find one of those fan girls to hang out with the rest of the night." Pepper said as her last word before going into her bedroom and shutting the door behind her.

Tony just stood there dumbfounded at what just happened. She told him off, dressed him down and then got the last word in and ended it. That never happened. He had opened his mouth a few times to try to respond to her tirade but never found the words to accurately express how he felt. Tony knew very well that she was working harder then usual since he made the announcement that spread across every newspaper and news channel in the world but he really didn't understand all the consequences. Not only did he have to deal with paparazzi now but crazed super hero fans as well which meant what Tony dealt with, Pepper dealt with just as much. Even a quiet dinner for just the two of them was forever going to be interrupted in someway or another. Maybe he should have thought about what he was going to say just a bit longer than four seconds?

Given the fact that Pepper was pissed at Tony again and he can't figure out what to say or do to get her to not be angry and even when he tries something, it just happens to put him right back where he was before, Tony opts to make himself scarce again and heads back to the casino to drown his misery in Blackjack and expensive scotch. On his way down, Tony figured that since Pepper is not around to harass him about his one truly bad habit, he was going to drink and enjoy it.

Down in the casino, Tony took a seat at one of the higher end Blackjack tables and ordered a scotch on the rocks as he began to play. Over the several hours that he was there, Tony managed to rack up a sizable pile of winnings and a few empty glasses. Tony might not have drunk as much as he used to be capable of while he was down gambling, but enough to have a good buzz going on to dull the pain and to be less upset so his temper wasn't about to exactly explode anymore.

It was well after one in the morning when Tony finally dragged himself away from the Blackjack tables with a cool 850k in his pocket and staggered back up to the suite. Now he wasn't exactly silent when he came back to the room. Forgetting exactly where he was, he knocked a lamp off the side table with a huge crash when he tried to turn on the living room light and then swearing colorfully after he tripped over one of the chairs and landed on the floor.

Hearing the less than graceful noises coming from the living room, Pepper pulled herself from bed to see what else Tony could have gotten himself into. She turned on the light to see him sitting on his rear in the middle of the floor as he tried to right the chair he had tripped over.

"So did getting drunk actually help anything?" Pepper asked with a somewhat snotty undertone which reflected her mood and her annoyance with Tony.

"Actually yes…" Tony said as he got to his feet with a pronounced sway to his stance. "It takes the edge off my temper and made things a whole lot clearer." He said as he slowly walked towards her.

"How does being drunk make things clearer? Isn't supposed to have the opposite effect?" Pepper asked as she back up behind her door frame as Tony got closer.

"Usually yes but when my anger was put on the back burner, my eyes were opened and something hit me like a tank," Tony said as he staggered over to her door and put his hand on the wall to support himself from falling down. "You know what, Pepper…you wanna know what I figured out after a few scotches…you are a liar." He slurred out. "You know why you are a liar? You are a liar because you don't really want me to go to one of those fan girls because you want me for yourself." He added as he started leaning in closer and closer to Pepper's face. "I think you're jealous of all those girls who threw themselves at me and I think you liked throwing my one-night stands out in the morning because you got to get rid of your competition first hand. Those sorry, confused, slightly hung-over bimbos got tossed on their pretty little asses by the great Pepper Potts so she could have me all for herself." Tony then shifted as if he were going to steal a kiss from Pepper's soft, pink lips. "Tell me I am wrong…I dare you to…"

Pepper was downright furious at his gall and tenacity to spit what he thought was the truth and turned out to actually be the truth right in her face. As he spoke, her rage at him grew like a volcano ready to explode. With every word he slurred out at her with scotch soaked breath and as he was getting closer to her, Pepper backed up as much as she could into her room and away from him. Then, in that last moment when he dared her to deny what he had just said and he leaned in to go for a kiss that he was not even remotely entitled to at the moment, Pepper took one more step back and slammed the door soundly in his face.

Tony was nearly knocked off his feet with the force of the slam but he regrouped and straightened himself up. "You know this means war, Ms. Potts," he said quietly as he started back for his room. "And war is something which I am an expert at with a heavily loaded arsenal." With that, Tony stripped down and changed into his pajamas and collapsed on his bed with thoughts on how he would be around her and win Pepper back.


	6. 76 War

The sun shone brightly through the windows of the suite, burning away the post-alcoholic binge haze and leaving the resulting headache and hangover in its wake. The offending light, pulled Tony back to consciousness and reality in a way he did not desire at this moment. The first moments of wakefulness were hitting Tony like a ton of bricks. His head throbbed with a scotch aftermath and the realization of exactly what he had said to Pepper the night before. Being drunk truly does limit ones tactfulness even if what he had said may have had elements of truth.

With this thought setting him in motion, Tony stumbled out of bed and made his way quickly across the suite with the taste of both feet in his mouth to Pepper's room to offer his most profound apologies and beg to be on her good side again since being on her bad side bit something right foul. Tony knocked on Pepper's door and waited a few seconds when he did not receive an immediate answer, even if it was go away. After knocking for a second time and still receiving silence, Tony checked his watch and saw that it was just after eight in the morning and he knew for a fact Pepper got up with the damn birds so she could not still be sleeping. He carefully opened the door to see if she was alright and panicked when everything was revealed to him. Pepper wasn't there at all.

Tony's brain freaked out and he ran down to the lobby to make sure that she hadn't checked out and left on him. Barefoot and in a pair of sleep pants and a t-shirt with a major case of bed head, Tony skidded to a stop at the front desk.

"Can you tell me were Ms. Potts has gone to? Did she check out?" Tony gasped out as he tried to catch his breath.

"She did not check out, sir. Ms. Potts took one of the cars you reserved to see the surrounding area and take in some shopping at our boutiques."

"How long ago did she leave?"

"Not more than ten minutes ago, sir."

The wheels in Tony's head were going about 1000 RPM. He had time to catch her still. Ten minutes was not long at all.

"Sir?" the concierge called out to Tony, breaking his train of thought.

"What?" Tony shot back, clearly not happy about being pulled out of his thought process.

"You may wish to change if you are choosing to follow the lady," the concierge said almost sheepishly as he pointed to Tony's current state of attire.

Then reality smacked Tony again. He looked down at what he was wearing and around the room at the looks that he was getting from the other patrons. Being in a war did not leave time for trivial things like proper clothing. Pulling himself back together with as much power and dignity as he could muster in his pajamas, Tony turned back to the desk clerk. "Let me know when she returns and I promise I will make it worth your while." Tony instructed before heading back up to the suite to put on something more appropriate.

Not more than an hour later, Tony was cruising the amenities of the hotel with 100 Euro notes proceeding with his battle plans of winning over one Pepper Potts trying to figure out if she had made any appointments at the spa that he could possibly ambush. By the time he had gone to bed that night, he had spent nearly 2000 Euro and had not seen one sign of Pepper.

The next morning, Tony was going to try to outsmart her. He purposely had a wake up call set for six in the morning to try to beat Pepper to the punch so he could once again try to apologize and spend some time with her. After stepping out of a quick shower, Tony knocks on Pepper's bedroom door only to quickly realize that he had been outsmarted again. Damn, she was quick.

But instead of being the butt of the joke again, Tony had thought ahead this time. In his running around the hotel the day before, Tony had managed to find the driver that took Pepper out. Tony spoke to her driver and offered him a very large tip if the driver would call him with the details of where they were going. The driver had quickly agreed. It was with that knowledge that Tony smirked when his cell phone went off saying that Pepper had stopped at a small café for breakfast not more than 5 blocks from the hotel.

Deciding it was a nice enough day and figuring she would be there for a bit, Tony went by foot to the café. It was only when he got there did he find out that Pepper had ditched the car and driver with the orders to pick her back up later that evening. Where the hell did Pepper learn to be so damn crafty?

Without any other options at the moment, Tony headed back to the hotel to work out this little wrinkle in his plans. How could he win Pepper back if he couldn't talk to her?

Sitting on the couch and flipping through movies in three different languages, Tony could not make heads or tails of how to fix this situation and he just could not let Pepper win the war. So, when one voice of reason is unreachable and impatience takes over, call another and with that, Tony pulled out his cell phone.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

"Rhodes here…" a very tired voice answered finally.

"Hey Rhodey! I have one hell of a problem here that I need your help with."

"Tony?" Rhodey asked as he flicked on his light and sat up. "Do you have any damn clue as to what time it is?"

Tony thought about it for a split second. "No...But this is important…"

"What is so damn important that you have to wake me up at two in the morning?"

"Pepper is seriously pissed off at me and I keep trying to catch up with her to apologize but she keeps evading me. I can't find her to get time alone. I have tried everything I can think of so what does your all planning military mind say do to?"

Rhodey sighed very audibly. "Man, why don't you just wait in the room? She has to come back sometime."

A virtual light bulb finally went off in Tony's mind. How could he have missed something so obvious? "I guess that military training has some purpose. Let's hope your suggestion works because I'll go broke doing it my way."

Tony hung up the phone and smiled. On the third day, he would triumph but for now, the Blackjack tables called him once more.


	7. 177 Puddle

For two very long and torturous days, Tony Stark was always just a few steps behind Pepper Potts. After the incident at dinner, things went haywire and nearly blew up in his face. All he wanted to do was spend some time with Pepper. He had gotten up early every day to try to catch her but she was always up earlier than he was.

By the time the third day came around, after Tony decided to try a new tactic to call for back up from one James Rhodes, taking his advice and clearing his head with a little gambling since math can be fun, he didn't try to chase after her this time; he would wait for her to come to him. Tony parked himself on the couch in the living room and called room service for his dinner around eight so he could plan to be around when she came back so they would have an opportunity to talk.

Tony ate his dinner only to the sounds of the TV which he really wasn't paying attention to. When he finished, he stretched out on the couch to at least be a bit more comfortable as he waited for Pepper but not intending to dose off as he did.

An hour later though, things took an unexpected and clearly unwanted turn for the worst. Tony's stomach started to gurgle loudly, waking him just in time to lose what he did eat in a nearby wastepaper basket. Tony sat on the floor for a few moments, trying to collect himself after throwing up but soon found himself bathed in a cold sweat and staggering into the bathroom before he threw up again. Not possessing the strength to stand any longer, Tony knelt down next to the toilet as his stomach rebelled on him over and over again.

When Pepper returned to the room around ten, her nose was quickly assaulted with the sour smell that always lingered when some had gotten sick to their stomach. Just as she was putting the wastepaper basket with the offensive puddle outside for housekeeping to take care of, Pepper heard a groan of pain before the hard sounds of retching in the bathroom. Her first thought automatically flew to Tony old and very longstanding habit of drowning whatever he could not deal with in a bottle of something alcoholic. But there was no evidence around the suite to back up that thought…no bottles, no glasses…nothing. That was when she walked over to the bathroom.

"Are you drunk?" Pepper snapped rather accusingly as she rounded the doorframe.

Tony was resting his head on his arm on the seat of the toilet in between rounds of losing his stomach. He slowly opened his eyes at the sound of Pepper's voice and did not like the accusatory tone at all.

"Pepper I swear," Tony started as he gagged again and tried his best to force it back. "I didn't drink anything." Tony gagged again but this time lost the battle and threw up for what was probably his tenth time. After five, one stops counting. "Being drunk would have been more fun." Tony gasped out as he tried to catch his breath as his stomach turned on him again. "At least when you get sick from drinking - you usually had fun getting there and then you don't feel the misery associated with it."

Pepper's mood quickly softened as she absorbed the fact that Tony was truly suffering here. She tossed her purse on the couch and sat down on the edge of the bathtub behind him, rubbing has back gently. "What happened, Tony?" she asked in a far gentler tone as she wet a washcloth and wiped it over his sweaty bare back and neck.

"Something," Tony said as he fought back another gag. "Didn't like me very much at dinner and now it's taking its revenge." He said as he laid his head back down on his arm and let his eyes drift closed for a brief moment. "You don't have to do this. This is your vacation and I don't want to ruin it by having you take care of me while I am sick as a dog here."

Pepper ignored his protestations about taking care of him and got him a small glass of water. "But I can't just sit by in good conscience and watch you suffer like this," she replied as she held the glass to his lips. "Take a few small, slow sips. I don't want you getting dehydrated."

Tony obeyed without argument but wished he hadn't when the water came back up a few moments later.

For the next two hours, the two of them did not leave the bathroom. Pepper would wipe the damp cloth over Tony's clammy skin to try to soothe him in between bouts of nausea and try to get him to drink even a little bit but it never stayed down. By midnight, Tony had gone more than forty minutes without throwing up and he was exhausted. He was falling asleep on his arm that rested on the toilet seat while he shivered.

"Tony? Think you can make it to bed? You'll be more comfortable sleeping there than on the floor here." Pepper said softly as she rested her hand on his bare shoulder to gently bring him around.

Tony squinted his eyes at the bright bathroom lights and was very reluctant to move but Pepper did have a point there. He allowed her to help him up and get him to his bed were he gingerly lay down.

"Don't go…please." Tony whispered as he weakly grabbed at Pepper's hand as she turned to leave.

"Tony…" Pepper started to protest.

"Please…" Tony whispered as he looked up at her almost pathetically, pleading with her to stay even if just for a little while.

Pepper sighed and crossed to the other side of the bed. "I'll stay just until you fall asleep," she stated firmly as she crawled up on to the bed, sitting up against the headboard.

As she sat next to him, Tony shifted so his head was in Pepper's lap and the blankets were wrapped around him snuggly. It wasn't long before his breathing evened out and he started to snore softly.

The almost comforting weight of Tony's sleeping form on her legs was just enough to do Pepper in as well. She had not gotten much sleep since the whole announcement and not long after she heard Tony snoring, Pepper drifted off as well.


	8. 11 Morning

The sun filtered softly through the windows of the bedroom the next morning illuminating a peaceful scene…Pepper Potts sound asleep resting against the headboard with Tony Stark sound asleep in her lap. As the sunlight filled the room, Pepper was gently roused back to consciousness, having slept surprisingly well considering. It took her a few moments to realize she was not in her own bedroom but Tony's instead and the events of the previous night came rushing back. Tony had gotten terribly sick to his stomach and she had tucked him into bed and only intended to stay until he fell asleep but ended up falling asleep herself. Now coming into full wakefulness again, Pepper was faced with a deep series of conflicts. She was still a bit angry with him, but wanted to stay with him. She wanted to get up but since he doesn't sleep all that much she was hesitant to move out of fear of disturbing him. And the biggest battle of all, she was comfortable sitting with him like this, almost too comfortable being with and sleeping with him like she just had and it scared the crap out of her.

Pepper sighed as she looked down at Tony sleeping so peacefully and deeply in her lap…something that was clearly a rare occurrence as of late. She hadn't realized that she had been running her fingers slowly through his hair, providing him with the comfort he needed without knowing it.

Tony stirred slowly under her gentle caress. "Mmm…I like that…" he whispered softly as he shifted position on her legs but not yet opening his eyes since he was enjoying her running her fingers through his hair way too much.

Pepper stopped when she heard Tony speak. "I didn't mean to wake you…I wasn't intending to…" she stammered out quickly.

"If I could wake up like this every morning, it would be worth it," Tony sighed as he opened his eyes and rolled over, looking up at Pepper with a smile. "You stayed…"

Pepper felt a distinct tug at her heart and a blush come into her cheeks when a sleepy Tony looked up at her with that soft, genuine smile. She could not go down this road…not right now at least. "Of course I stayed. You were sick."

"But you were only going to stay until I fell asleep," Tony reminded her. "I woke up for a little bit during the night and when I still found you here…you don't know how happy it made me. I haven't slept this good in a while."

Those words struck fight or flight mode in Pepper as she extricated herself from the bed as quickly as possible now. She was supposed to be mad at him for being a thoroughbred idiot not giving in to his and her feelings for him. Pepper knew she needed to fall back into professional mode, no matter how hard it may be, as soon as humanly possible.

Tony was a little confused when Pepper bolted out of the bed so quickly. "Where are you going? I'm not kicking you out."

"I shouldn't have stayed," Pepper muttered quickly as she gathered up her shoes and started to try to organize things. "Do you need anything? I can order breakfast if you're feeling up to it. A shower would also do you good." Pepper rattled out almost like a machine gun.

Tony just leaned against his pillows just kind of watching as Hurricane Virginia fluttered around the room trying to deny what had just happened and quietly says her name. "Pepper?"

She doesn't look at him when she heard him whisper her name. "I am going to get cleaned up and if you need anything to let me know." She tells him in a very detached tone before exiting his bedroom and pulling the door almost closed behind him.

Tony was still trying to wrap his head around what had just happened. Pepper had taken care of him when he told her she did not need to. Pepper had stayed all night with him even though she said she was only intending to stay until he fell asleep. Then, he wakes up with her running her fingers through his hair which he loves and tells her so and she gets up and bolts out of the room in a panic. As he thought about it even longer, the more it hurt. Tony felt the cold steel of rejection go right through him and it hurt more than anything else. Had he really fouled things up so badly that she could not show any affection for him? That thought brought tears of pain and anguish to Tony's eyes…tears he did not want Pepper to see.

Tony pulled himself from the bed and went over to the bedroom door, shutting it all the way and locking it before he leaned his back against it and slid to the floor as he buried his face in his hands because as much as he wanted to be with Pepper he didn't really want to be around her right then.

Pepper had come out of her bathroom just to hear Tony's door close and lock…a sound she had never heard from him. He had never shut her out like this and just knowing that he had just locked his door on her cut her deeper than any blade could. Pepper crossed through the suite quickly and knocked on Tony's door. "Tony?"

Tony sighed when he heard the knock at his door. "Go away Pepper," he snapped back. "I still don't feel good and I just want to be alone." He added, trying to hide his pain under the mask of anger.

"Tony, if you still don't feel good…please let me take care of you." Pepper pleaded. "I wouldn't have left you alone."

"You only want to be around me because I'm sick and never any other time?" Tony snapped as his tears thickened and deepened his voice with the pain he was trying to hide. "Iron Man has the hard, crispy nearly indestructible exterior but inside is soft, squishy and very breakable. You take care of me when I said you didn't need to. You stayed with me all night and then when I told you how much I liked it, you run away. I am sick of the double standard you are throwing at me. You wont forgive me for making you angry when I stick my foot in my mouth and cause a PR hiccup which you handled already and I have apologized for many times but I am supposed to forgive you right away after you give me such hope and then destroy it in a manner of seconds. Try again when you're ready to accept my end."

The anger that was shouted through the closed door went right to the core of Pepper as she backed away. She had long denied how she truly felt about Tony but since his return from Afghanistan it had gotten so much harder to just be professional and ignore the fact that she loved him. Hearing the raw sadness in Tony's voice as he just essentially chewed her out for her own screw up really wakes her up to the fact that he is more than Iron Man, more than just her boss and more than just her friend. Pepper realizes that he is still just Tony and the man she is completely in love with even though she can't or won't tell him that now. He's still the completely sweet guy who has fun teasing her and who made her feel like a queen when they danced at the Fireman's Benefit. How could she possible apologize for this now?

Inside the bedroom, Tony heard Pepper back away from the door and he let his silent tears fall unheeded as he crawled back into bed. Things hurt too much at the moment to do anything else but let depression wash over him.

Hours went by and the sun had set once more without a sound more than breathing being heard in the suite. Pepper had taken to sitting in the living room with a book, waiting for Tony and her chance to apologize. Over the hours of silence, she had a lot of time to think about what he had said and Tony was right. She was holding him to an unfair double standard and realized she was making both of them miserable for it. Fear alone kept her from knocking on his door again. She knew he had to be ready to hear her apology if it was going to mean anything.

It was nearing seven in the evening when the happiest sound in the world was heard. The door unlocked – a sign that he's ready to listen and willing to forgive her if she can do the same for him

Pepper heard the latch and her breath caught in her throat. Did she apologize right away or let Tony set the tone? All the possibilities were making her head spin.

Tony silently slipped out of his bedroom in a t-shirt and pajama pants, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he made his way to the couch. He flopped down on the couch and reclined back against the pillows without making a sound.

"How are you feeling?" Pepper asked with cautious concern.

"I'm hungry," Tony mumbled softly.

"I would imagine you would be by now," Pepper replied as she snapped into 'Take Care of Tony Mode.' "I can order us something from room service for dinner…something that won't be too hard on your stomach."

"I think I can handle some soup or something like that," Tony said as he finally looked up at Pepper with bloodshot eyes. "No shrimp though. I don't want to relive last night."

Pepper looked into Tony's worn eyes and saw the depth of pain she had put him through and it struck her to the core as she picked up the phone to order their dinner. She had been needlessly cruel to a man she loved and now needed to own up to it. "Tony…I just want to…"  
Tony held up his hand to stop her since he knew what she was going to say. "We both have things to apologize for so why not call it even." He stated. "We both hurt each other and we know it so what more is there to say except for dialing for dinner." He added with a small smirk, showing the old Tony. "After throwing up so much yesterday, I am actually starving."

Pepper smiled and almost instantly relaxed. "I think I can manage that," she said warmly. "Maybe as we eat, you can finish telling me the story that was started at dinner the other night before your fan base interrupted.

"It will be a lot easier without the groupies…at least to tell it properly." Tony laughed as he flipped the TV on and found a movie they could watch.

By the time Pepper had hung up the phone and turned back to Tony, he had managed to surprise her again. He wasn't watching a movie she would have expected him to – no action or intellectual drama or rude comedy. He had put on _Love Actually-_ a British romantic comedy.

"I figured you didn't want to watch _Die Hard_ in French so this was a suitable alternative." Tony shrugged.

"I think Bruce Willis in French may have been equally as funny." Pepper conceded as she sat down next to him.

Tony's eyes lit up as he smiled and made room for Pepper to sit next to him on the couch and he did not change the channel.

The movie was just ending as Tony was slowly sipping at his soup and nibbling on the piece of bread that Pepper had asked them to include for him as Pepper was finishing her own as well.

"Now can you finish telling me the story…about when you offended your Uncle Marco?" Pepper asked.

"That was the one I was telling?" Tony questioned. "There are so many times I have offended people, can you be more specific?"

"I think you said you insulted him in Italian."

Tony thought about it for a moment. "Ohhh...that one. I gotcha now." He mused. "This had to be when I was about five or six and my mother was still trying to teach me. My Uncle Marco was coming to visit from Italy and he had many things to be ticked off about. He didn't agree with the fact that my grandfather, his brother, changed the name of his side of the family from Carbonelli to Carbonell and he never approved of my father so my mother wanted to impress him by having me speak Italian.

"All the relatives had come and were staying with us so we had to have a party. None of them could say Anthony properly and refused to call me Tony so I got called Antonio for the entire length of time they were there, which I hated.

"Now one of my relatives asked me if I knew what my Uncle's profession was…he was a banker. I said yes and then tried to explain in my best Italian. Now, in my defense, the verbs lavorare – to work and lavare – to wash sound very similar. So instead of saying 'Lui lavora con I soldi,' I said 'Lui lava I soldi'. I said he washes money like he laundered it. Everyone found it very funny except for him. It only got ugly when he threatened to hit me for it and my father stepped in. Needless to say, I didn't see him too much afterwards."

Pepper had to laugh at the story. "I would have found that funny too, Antonio."

"Don't call me that." Tony said quickly. "I would rather Anthony before that."

"I thought only your mother called you Anthony," Pepper teased.

"And you when you get ticked off with me," Tony laughed as he tried to hide a yawn.

"I think it may be bedtime for you." Pepper said gently as she yawned. "And me too."

"You may be right on that," Tony said as he heaved his tired body off the couch.

As they are heading to their rooms to go to sleep, Pepper hesitated and then softly calls his name. "Tony?"

He stopped at the sound of his name. "Yeah?"

Pepper crossed the suite quickly over to him and hugged him tightly, surprising him for a moment until he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm glad you're feeling better…" she whispers before letting go.

"Better in many ways." He responded. Tony then watched her walk back to her room while he just stood there with a smile on his face before heading to bed himself.


	9. 154 Disguise

When the sun rose on Saturday morning, it was a far more peaceful atmosphere to wake up in for Pepper. Since she and Tony had made their peace with each other the night before, Pepper did not have to think of ways to avoid Tony for the day and may actually get to enjoy the vacation Tony had taken them on. Checking the clock and noting that she still woke up before seven even on vacation, Pepper got out of bed, placed an order for breakfast for her and Tony and then hopped into the shower. By the time she had gotten out of the shower and dressed, breakfast was waiting for them.

After all the years of working for Tony, Pepper knew very well how notoriously hard he was to wake up, especially without Jarvis to help with the blinds but Pepper knew other methods as well. She poured a cup of black coffee and crept into Tony's darkened room.

Pepper set the coffee on the nightstand first, hearing Tony snore as she opened the curtains to let the sun in. She quickly noted that just sunlight had no effect on the man at all. That's when she went for the guaranteed wake up for the caffeine addict. Pepper took the cup of coffee and just held it under Tony's nose, letting the aroma seep into his brain.

Tony was so deep in the land of Nod that it took a good five minutes before his dreaming self smacked his real self and told him that caffeine is calling him. His hands instinctually went for the offered mug in front of him before his eyes were totally opened.

"I'm going to guess that 'Good morning,' is appropriate?" Tony asked groggily as he sipped at his nectar from the gods.

"Yes, that is a typical greeting for this time of day." Pepper said with a smile. "And before you ask your next question, I ordered breakfast and it is waiting out in the main room. Get up before it gets cold."

Tony sipped at his coffee again before he extracted himself from the covers to see that Pepper had ordered Belgian waffles, fruit and about six other things for them to eat. "I should make up with you more often…" Tony mused through a yawn. "Better yet, why don't we just skip the fight and go to the making up and everything is cool again because this is unbelievable." he said as he sat down and began to dig in. "By the way…I was wondering," Tony said in between bites, trying not to say anything with his mouth full. "Would you like to see some of the sights with me today?"

Pepper looked up for a moment when she thought she heard the slight twinge of nervousness in Tony's voice before she heard the statement. "And get mobbed by Iron Man groupies again? I don't think so, Tony." She replied even though she really did want to go.

"What if there was a way that I could promise that no groupies would attack us? Would you go then?" Tony asked, trying to not let this go without a fight.

Pepper sighed because she knew there was no way that they could go out unrecognized. Then one thing popped into her head. "The day you shave your beard is the day we go out sightseeing," Pepper replied.

"Are you serious about that?" Tony quickly replied.

Pepper thought about it for a moment and nodded. "Yes. Your mustache and goatee are some of your most recognizable features and without them; you may have a chance to go unnoticed." Then another idea spun in Pepper's head. "But I don't think you could get rid of them. I think you'd wimp out."

"Me? Wimp out on a challenge?" Tony questioned. "Have you forgotten already who you're talking to?"

"No, I remember quite well and this is why we have this problem. You always need a disguise of some nature and the facial hair has been your disguise so long that it has become you and you're too scared to drop it." Pepper said with a cool smirk.

"This sounds like you're throwing the gauntlet down, Pepper." Tony commented as held himself by his elbows on his knees. "Say it, Pepper. Say it out loud."

"I dare you to shave off the beard." Pepper said as she threw her napkin down in front of him.

Tony then played it up a bit as he reclined back against the couch, his fingers playing with his goatee. "What do I get in return if I go through with this?" he posed. "This is no small challenge here to ask me to get rid of something that I have had since I was twenty-two. You're going to need to make it worth my while."

"Make it worth your while?" Pepper repeated as she leaned in closer. "If you actually go through with it, I will do anything you want with you today and maybe a few other times before we go home."

Tony thought this seemed like a pretty damn good deal to him and he held out his hand. "Shake on it, Potts, and make it binding."

Pepper shook his hand and then pinky swore on it to show she wasn't kidding.

As soon as Pepper pinky swore to it, Tony jumped off the couch and headed into his bathroom, actually shocking Pepper a bit with how fast he moved.

"Tony? Something wrong?" she asked cautiously.

"Just winning my end of the deal that you shook on," Tony called from the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, Tony reemerged, showered, dressed and wiping his face off with a towel. Pepper could not help but gasp when she saw him clean shaven. Without the facial hair, he looked nearly ten years younger and even more intoxicatingly handsome.

"Did I do something wrong?" Tony asked when he saw the stunned look on Pepper's face.

"No…nothing at all…" Pepper stammered out, suddenly losing her ability to speak.

"Then come over here and tell me how I did. I haven't had to do the whole thing in a while and I want to make sure I am not out of practice." Tony said as he gently grasped Pepper's hand and pulled her closer to him.

Pepper stiffened up as Tony pulled her closer to him. This scared her. It scared her how strong her feelings really were for him. Her hand shook as she placed it against his cheek and the alluring scent of his aftershave hit her brain with a vengeance. "I would say you did pretty well." She rasped out as her hand slowly fell down. "Now what?"

"You said I got to pick what we did and I have wanted to spend the day with you since we got here," Tony said as he picked up his wallet and put it in his pocket and picked up the room key. "So you're just going to have to go along for the ride here and trust and follow me because I have a whole day in mind including dinner, dancing AND a good night kiss." Tony said as he reached for Pepper's hand and escorted her to the car he had waiting.

Pepper swallowed hard. Had she left Tony alone for that long to have him have planned something? She only hoped that she did not get herself in too deep as she got in the car.

The car ride was not long at all, only to a rental place. Tony held the door open for Pepper and instructed the driver to pick them up at seven so they could make eight o'clock dinner reservations.

"Tony? How are we getting around without the car?" Pepper asked cautiously as she looked around and saw a lot of mopeds.

"By this," Tony said as he pointed to the clerk bringing out a 2005 Harley-Davidson XL883R Sportster in hot rod red and black.

"No, we are not," Pepper quickly protested.

"Yes we are and you shook on our deal, remember?" Tony reminded Pepper. "I promise I won't go that fast." He said as he got onto the bike and patted the seat behind him.

Pepper sighed but he did have her there. She got on behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist as Tony kicked off to get started with his day.

They started with a ride along the coastal Avenue Saint-Martin, featuring some beautiful cliff-side gardens. On the same road was the Monaco Cathedral, which was built in the late 19th century, and was where Princess Grace and Prince Ranier married. It is also where Grace and many of the other Grimaldis are buried. Then they went by the Palais Princier in old Monaco-Ville and Tony took the opportunity while they were there to stop at a cute little bistro on the harbor for lunch. After lunch, Tony seriously surprised Pepper by going back to Avenue Saint-Martin and stopping in front of the Oceanographic Museum and Aquarium.

"We're going to an aquarium? This is easily not something I expected from you." Pepper stated as she got off the bike.

Tony shrugged and gave her a small smile as he took her hand and paid for the admission. "I never really got to go as a kid and thought it would be fun. My parents never had the time to take me most of the time."

After going through the more than 4,000 different fish exhibits, it was nearly half past six. They had just enough time to return the motorcycle and get the car back to the hotel. He didn't say it out loud but Tony loved having Pepper holding on to him, especially when she held on tighter when he hit the curves. He was secretly wondering if he could get the same thing on his bike at home in the canyons of Malibu.

Once they were back in the car again, Pepper brushed against Tony's leg when she got in and that nearly sent him over the edge on the control of impulses. "What should I wear to dinner tonight?"

"One of those exquisite things that I asked you to bring. It is a sort of a formal place." Tony stated as the car let them off at the hotel again.

"What am I to expect you to be in?" Pepper asked, trying to judge which dress she should pick.

"I did bring at least two of my tuxedos for a reason." Tony chimed in.

At minutes before eight, the car was pulling up to the Hotel de Paris where Tony had made reservations at the ultra exclusive and extremely expensive Louis XV Restaurant. He had picked this one for a few reasons. One was the price and he was trying to impress Pepper. Two was the food was positively fabulous and it had a 250,000 bottle wine cellar. Third was that the other restaurant on the roof had a dance floor and great views of Monaco at night.

The car pulled up and they were greeted by the doorman and let into a world of old world elegance that was usually reserved for palaces and personally escorted to the restaurant as soon as Tony said his name. This hotel catered to the glitterati and the rich and famous and Tony Stark qualified as both.

To say that the hotel impressed Pepper was an understatement and she was even more impressed when Tony quietly translated the menu for her so she didn't look foolish. Once their food arrived, gourmet Mediterranean cuisine, it was beyond compare. Pepper also noted one other thing…no interruptions. Not one person staring and pointing. No one asking for a photo or autograph. It was a pleasant change from the previous experience.

After dinner, Tony escorted Pepper to the roof of the hotel where the other restaurant was located but it wasn't for the food but for the view and the dance floor. He didn't ask her aloud, just with his eyes as he took her to the floor and pulled her close to him. Tony wasn't going to spoil it this time. No shooting his mouth off out of nerves and no ditching her on the roof. As the music played, they waltzed around the floor like floating on air. Tony could feel that Pepper was tense and he had to stay calm for her as his strong arms held her and led her around the floor. He was more trying to not get too excited so that it would scare her off.

It was past one in the morning by the time they go back to their hotel and Tony was still being a proper gentleman as he walked Pepper to her bedroom door. As he leaned in to get the one last thing he requested – the good night kiss – Pepper turned her head shyly so he got her cheek instead of her lips.

"Hey…that wasn't fair." Tony protested with a pout.

"You said a kiss but you did not specify where it had to be." Pepper said in her own defense. "There was a hole in your negotiations there."

Tony opened his mouth to protest but the words didn't come out. She had gotten him on that one. "You tricky little minx." He teased. "Okay…you did get me on that one but that is why I bring you to contract negotiations."

"As always. I fill in your holes." Pepper said with a smile.

"I thought I am supposed to do that to you," Tony said with a playful smirk.

Pepper lightly slapped him in the chest. "Good night Tony."

"Ouch…Pepper you wound me." Tony played up as he rubbed the spot she had hit. "Good night Pepper." He replied before going to his own room, surprisingly happy.


	10. 192 mini golf

Pepper sipped her coffee quietly in the morning on the balcony of the suite, taking in the few moments after sunrise over the Mediterranean. While it was quiet, she had a lot of time to think. She thought about many things but most did turn back on Tony in some way or another. Despite the fact that he could drive her positively crazy sometimes, not only did she like working for him but cared for him more than any one else she had ever known.

She even thought about the favorite part of her day. Most people would probably say quitting time but that was not Pepper. Her favorite part of her work day was when Tony got up in the morning. Now, this wasn't the moment when he needed to be dragged from bed to make some early morning appointment that he was clearly grumpy and not very sociable before at least three cups of coffee. Hers was when he awoke on his own, whether it's at nine or noon, it didn't matter. She loved seeing him come down the stairs in an old t-shirt and his pajama pants, rubbing his eyes and yawning, still a little sleepy and relishing in the leftover warmth from the blankets. To Pepper, Tony was absolutely adorable at that moment because that was the purest version of him that existed. No walls, no sarcasm, no cheap ploys or rude jokes, no masks…just Tony. This was the reason why she decided to not wake him this morning despite her gentility in the matter while on vacation. Pepper needed Tony in a good mood for what she wanted to do today.

By the time that Tony had finally emerged from his room just after ten in the morning, Pepper had already showered, dressed and gotten coffee for them, which Tony gravitated to like a moth to the flame.

"Good morning, Tony." Pepper said pleasantly.

"How long have you been up?" Tony asked through a yawn after a few sips of caffeine to wake up his brain.

"Long enough to watch the sun rise over the Mediterranean," Pepper replied as she handed Tony the morning paper.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked as he flopped down on the couch.

"You were tired and as you have pointed out, this is your vacation as well." Pepper replied as she sat down next to him. "I did think of what I wanted to do for the day though."

"Okay…lay it on me." He says excitedly because he is glad she still wants to spend the day together.

"First…I want to play miniature golf." Pepper said with a smug smile.

He heard her idea and started laughing. "Pepper, you do that on East Coast beach towns, not Monte Carlo." Tony exclaimed until he saw her face, which was serious. "Okay, it's your day. I'll see what I can come up with. Anything else?"

"I believe you said that I had the privilege to melt your credit cards and help the Monegasque economy…"Pepper hinted.

"So I guess that means a full out onslaught of the Golden Circle, the Condamine Market and the Fontvieille Shopping Centre." Tony stated as he pulled Pepper's laptop over and began looking for a mini-golf course in Monaco.

"What are you doing with my laptop?" Pepper asked as she crossed her arms and leaned in the doorframe as she watched Tony's fingers fly quickly over the keys.

"Trying to find a way to play mini-golf and not have to fly to New Jersey or Maryland." Tony quipped back.

An hour and a half later after Tony scoured search engines in several different languages and took a quick shower, he and Pepper were in the arranged car on their way to Antibes, France so Pepper could get her wish. The golf course was part of an amusement park associated with a hotel. When they arrived, Tony instructed the driver to pick them up in about an hour before he took her hand to pay. As they walked in, Tony was almost tempted enough to ditch the mini golf and attack the video games and water slides that were attached but he had promised Pepper. Not only did he have to shave every day until they went home so he would not be recognized but he also had to alternate with Pepper as to what they did.

Upon receiving their putters and balls, Tony surveyed the competition ground while Pepper fixed her purse so it would not be in her way of playing. Eighteen holes of waterfalls, rivers, and 'volcanoes', inclines and declines and 'jungle' foliage laid waiting for them

There were two other groups ahead of them so while waiting, Pepper stepped onto the small practice green before the first hole. Now, not being a golf pro himself but having done his fair share of time on the greens mangling through one business match or another, Tony was watching the way Pepper swung the club and he had an idea, even if it was just an excuse to get closer to her. He snuck up behind her, placing his hands on her club just above and below hers, and tried to correct her swing.

"It works much better if you do it like this." Tony said over Pepper's shoulder as he adjusted the swing.

Pepper just sighed, picking up on the clear signals that Tony was throwing off. She didn't exactly mind feeling him close to her and breathing in the scent of his aftershave but she wasn't going to tell him that. "It's mini golf, Tony." She stated as she stepped off the green with a smile. "I think I can handle it just fine."

"Oh really?" Tony said as he picked up a hint of a challenge. "Care to make it a little more interesting, Tiger?"

"Interesting?" Pepper repeated. "How interesting?"

"Say five bucks for every hole in one and whoever wins gets their money doubled," Tony suggested as he held out his hand. "Do we have a bet Potts?"

"I think you may be giving me 180 dollars when we're done here." Pepper said with a smile as she shook on the bet.

An hour later, Pepper eagerly counted up 70 dollars of Tony's well won money as he put away the putters and clubs and got the car.

"Let's go Tiger." Tony sighed as Pepper was clearly bragging as she waved the money back in front of Tony's face.

"Admit it; I beat you fair and square…" Pepper teased as she got in the car.

"Just for that, you can buy lunch before you make an assault on my credit cards." Tony replied as the car started back for Monte Carlo.


	11. 168 Carry

The drive back to Monaco was quiet but happy. Pepper Potts sat next to Tony counting up her winnings from miniature golf and Tony didn't say another word about it. He just had a smirk on his face. Maybe he let her win or maybe he just enjoyed watching her beat him thoroughly? Either way, Tony wasn't going to tell and he was still going to make her pay for lunch because of it.

The car dropped them off at the Pizzeria Monégasque, where they grabbed a few slices while sitting on the terrace overlooking the ocean. While enjoying a relaxing lunch, Tony slipped the shopping guide over to Pepper so she could plan her assault. Some how, he had a feeling that once she got near the casino; Pepper was going to melt his credit card.

Pepper perused the shopping map with a mildly interested façade on the surface but underneath she was nearly ready to explode at the free reign she was about to have fun with. "We'll start slow at the Fontvieille Shopping Centre and then start working our way up to Condamine Market and finally end up in the Golden Circle. I hope you brought the big cards." She said with a calm tone that hid the intent to torture underneath.

"That was what I was afraid of," Tony sighed as he slid the bill over to Pepper as per their bet. "I've seen you shop on Rodeo and that is child's play compared to the Golden Circle but I did agree to be the jackass to pay for and haul all of this so I am only going to request that you don't break me."

"I won't break you," Pepper assures him as she paid the bill and stood up. "I'll only take part of your fortune." She added with a laugh as she headed off in the direction of the Fontvieille Shopping Centre.

The Fontvieille Shopping Centre was the smallest and would probably be the most affordable of the three. There were thirty-six small stores which could have easily been found in any American mall. To her credit, Pepper did only buy one thing there – a DVD.

Tony was distracted in looking at electronics when Pepper put the DVD in his hand.

"You have got to be kidding me with this?" Tony groaned when he looked at the title. "_Pretty Woman_?"

"I would think you would like that movie since a billionaire falls in love with a hooker." Pepper smirked.

"For the record, I have never hired a hooker. I like not having a veritable alphabet of diseases. I don't care if the hooker did look like Julia Roberts; there are better ways of getting laid." Tony protested.

"Yes, forgive me, I forgot the Good and Evil twins. I am sure those two were a lot better." Pepper smirked.

"You promised that you would never bring THEM up again." Tony warned as he begrudgingly paid for the DVD.

"I might have but I think my memory will be refreshed on that when we watch the movie later tonight." Pepper laughed. "Shall we head to Condamine?"

"If we must," Tony groaned.

The Condamine Market had been in existence since 1880 and was filled with many tiny shops and boutiques that were just made for bargaining, a skill Pepper proved to be quite talented with. Tony always knew there was a damn good reason why he brought her to every single deal he ever made. An hour and a half and seven bags later, Tony and Pepper emerged from the Condamine Market and headed for the final and most expensive target – the Golden Circle on Avenue Monte Carlo.

The Golden Circle was Monte Carlo's equivalent to Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue. There were plenty of places to melt Tony's credit card alongside Europe's high rollers. Names such as Hermes, Christian Dior, Gucci, Prada, Bulgari, Cartier and Chopard all had a presence here. To Pepper, this was paradise while Tony deemed it hell on earth.

Store after store, Pepper filled bag after bag without even looking at one price tag. Dresses, suits, shoes, purses, blouses…you name it, she bought it. It wasn't until she stepped into an expensive lingerie store that Tony finally said something.

Sitting on a chair, surrounded by Pepper's purchases, he tried keep up some of his bravado. "How about a fashion show here?" Tony suggested with a smirk. "I see a lot of things that are small and cute here that I wouldn't mind seeing on you."

Pepper picked up a blue lace corset, just to tease Tony a little bit more. "I don't think it would be very appropriate, Mr. Stark." She said coolly as she purposely used his professional title rather than his first name as she slipped into the dressing room.

"Come on, Pepper," Tony whined. "You have dragged me from one store after another and charged at least a million dollars on my credit cards. Throw me a bone here."

"That would be the last thing I would be encouraging, Tony." Pepper said as she popped her head out of the door with a smile and just enough of a glimpse of blue lace to get Tony's temperature rising.

By the time they returned to the hotel that evening, Tony needed a porter to get all the bags up to the suite since he needed to help Pepper. She had walked all day from store to store in four inch heels and her feet were killing her so badly that she could hardly stand for much longer. Without saying a word and not listening to any potential protests, Tony effortlessly picked Pepper up and carried her in his arms back up to the suite and did not set her down until he set her on the couch.

Pepper was surprised but did not complain. She whispered a small thank you when Tony took off her shoes for her and turned on the movie that she wanted to watch and when he sat down on the couch next to her, Pepper curled into him, resting her head on his shoulder and letting him wrap his arm around her as they watched _Pretty Woman. _And when Pepper fell asleep half way through the movie, Tony picked her up again and carried her to bed, leaving only after he had covered her with a blanket and stole a few glances at the woman he cared very much for before going back to the living room to finish the movie, alone but happy.


	12. 24 Kiss mild R rating

It was very late or very early depending on your perspective. For Tony, the fact that it was 2:55 in the morning meant very little consequence. The DVD player had gone to its screen saver after the movie had finished. He honestly did try to stay up to watch the whole thing but he fell asleep just as Richard Gere decked his lawyer, something Tony wished he could do on occasion. But now, after his little nap, he was wide awake and wasn't going back to sleep any time soon. Tony seriously considered waking Pepper to see if she wanted to have a little fun with him but since he was TRYING to get on her good side, he figured that it may not be best of ideas so he opted for something else, taking advantage of the quietness and general emptiness of the hotel and headed downstairs.

A dream jolted Pepper out of the pleasant state of unconsciousness that she had fallen into. It took her a moment to realize that she was in her bed with a blanket draped over her instead of on the couch with Tony, which was what she remembered. Her conscious and rational mind had not yet kicked in as she changed out of the clothes she had been wearing into something more comfortable to sleep in. She pulled a robe over her sleep attire and cracked open her bedroom door to look for Tony, at least to return the favor of a blanket if he had fallen asleep on the couch as well.

She opened the door to find the suite totally dark – a good sign that Tony may have actually gone to bed. Pepper crossed the suite and peeked in Tony's slightly open bedroom door to find it totally empty. At home, this wouldn't have concerned her much, just have Jarvis check if he's in the workshop but Monte Carlo was not home and there was no workshop. Pepper started to run down places he could have gone. If he had gone to the casino, he would have left a note or something. Most of the restaurants were closed at this time of morning which only left one possible option. Silently cursing him, Pepper picked up the phone.

"Yes, hi…this is Virginia Potts calling from the Presidential suite and I am wondering if Mr. Stark is down in the bar?" Pepper spoke into the phone, glad that the receptionist she got spoke English. "He is? Thank you very much." She said pleasantly before hanging up the phone and preparing herself to give Tony hell for going to get drunk.

The elevator operator discreetly pointed to the larger of the two bars in the hotel as the door opened for Pepper. Besides for the sounds of cleaning, Pepper heard something that stuck out, piano music. As she got closer, she could tell the music wasn't classical but more jazz instead but nothing she immediately recognized. Pepper followed the sounds of the beautiful music that she heard and was a little taken back at what she saw. Among the upturned chairs and maintenance workers, Tony was the one playing the piano. In all the time she had known him, she had only ever seen Obadiah use the piano that got crushed in his living room. This was new to Pepper but given the measure of his skill, not for Tony.

Pepper walked up behind him with her arms crossed over her chest, still ready to give him one hell of a lecture but that quickly faded as she heard him play and noticed the considerable absence of glasses and bottles. When he finished the piece, the few people there gave him a quiet round of applause.

Tony turned slightly and thanked everyone for humoring him and it was then he saw Pepper standing there.

"You play beautifully. Did you have lessons?" Pepper asked as she crossed over to the piano closer to Tony.

"My mother insisted on them but classical music bored me." Tony admitted.

"I got worried when I didn't see you in the suite." Pepper said as she leaned against the piano. "I don't have Jarvis here to check up on you."

This caught Tony's attention and then his eyes shifted upwards and he noticed Pepper was only wearing a robe with something seemingly small and lacy underneath it. He looked around the room at the five or six cleaning hotel staff that were in the room.

"Scusi signori, potreste lasciarci per favore?" he asked politely and soon enough the staff members were leaving.

"You like this…showing off and bossing people around." Pepper commented as Tony slid a hand along her waist and pulled her along the keys in front of him. "You like it when people do what you tell them to do." She observed.

"You never do," Tony said as he bent over slightly and leaned his head against her stomach and sighed. "In fact, it's usually the other way around." He added as he lifted his head and undid the belt on her robe to reveal the small lacy black nightgown underneath.

"Not always…" she whispered. Pepper watched him for a moment, studying him and trying to anticipate his next move since she thought she knew his patterns.

Tony stood up quickly, with a passion and fire burning in his eyes as he faced down Pepper and then lifted her so she was seated on the piano. He brushed her hair back away from her face before leaning in to capture her lips in a deep, possessing kiss which she initially tried to avoid before submitting to it.

Without breaking the kiss, Tony moved in between Pepper's legs and pulled her close to him again before leaning her back along the piano. A few keys played as Pepper arched her back into Tony caress. His hand ran from her neck, between her breasts and down to her belly before he shoved up the flimsy material to take what he desired.

Pepper's breathing quickened with the increasing state of arousal he was putting her in. She lifted her arms and allowed him to remove the night gown, leaving her quite exposed to him.

Tony smiled as he tossed the tiny scrap of fabric aside and stretched out on top of her, sliding her black lace panties down as he moved up her body to capture her lips again while his hand slipped to the warmth between her legs.

Pepper arched against Tony once more as she slid her hand between them to undo his jeans and shove them and his underwear off his hips. Wrapping her legs around him and pulling him closer, Pepper showed Tony what she wanted.

Tony growled with passion as he kicked his jeans off his legs and…

* * *

Tony awoke with a start on the couch of the suite. The room was dark except for the TV which was showing the DVD screen saver. He was sweating and panting heavily as he took a quick mental check of himself. It wasn't until he shifted to relieve some of the discomfort between his legs that his subconscious and conscious thoughts collided. "Damn that movie…" he grumbled to himself as he got off the couch to take a VERY cold shower.


	13. 23 Touch

A strange sound awoke Pepper in the morning. She looked at the clock and blinked when she saw 7:30. It was late for her standards but incredibly early for most people who were supposed to be on vacation. First, she didn't remember going to bed. Pepper distinctly remembered watching _Pretty Woman_ with Tony but everything after that was a little fuzzy. She noticed she was in her pajamas and tried to quell the rising panic that Tony just might have put her in them. She looked at the clock again and wondered why she heard the TV on. Did Tony fall asleep with it on all night?

Cautiously, Pepper slipped from her bed and crossed the room and quietly opened the door just in case Tony was still asleep on the couch. When she opened the door, Pepper got the shock of her life. Tony was not only awake but sitting on the couch in his swimsuit munching on a bowl of cereal and watching _Big Bang Theory_ in Italian and laughing his head off.

"Did you go to sleep at all last night?" Pepper asked, skipping the formalities of 'good morning.'

"A little bit," Tony stated, purposely leaving out the part of the film induced dream that sent him for a loop. "I ordered breakfast." He added as he absently pointed back to the table while not peeling his eyes away from the TV.

Pepper picked up a small fruit tart and nibbled at it while pouring herself some coffee, silently watching Tony. It was then she noticed the shadow of stubble on his chin and she cleared her throat as a reminder to their bet. "Did you forget something, Tony?"

"No, I didn't forget but I felt that shaving now would be counterproductive to what I want to do today." Tony replied.

"What is it that you want to do today?" Pepper asked cautiously but given Tony's attire she had a feeling some sort of water was involved.

"I figured that given the fact that we have been in the Mediterranean for over a week and haven't been in it once, a day at the private beach this hotel has been in order." Tony stated. "You did bring the cute bikini, right? That little red and silver one which I thought was totally hot?"

Pepper laughed a little and shook her head. "Sorry to disappoint but no." she told him.

Tony pouted a little. "I hope not some plain hideous one piece. I may have to send you out with my credit card again to fix that."

Pepper laughed. "No but you are making me self conscious about what I did bring."

"How can I be making you self conscious? It's not like you haven't used my pool before. If anything, _I_ have more to be self conscious about than you do."

Pepper had forgotten about that. She had grown so accustomed to Tony and the arc reactor embedded in his chest that she really didn't notice it anymore. "What do you plan on doing about that?"

Tony pointed to the faded black t-shirt folded up next to him on the couch on top of his beach towel. "Something I don't like to do but has seemingly become necessary. But stop worrying about me. I know how to handle this thank you very much. Go get changed. We are wasting valuable rays and beach time."

"And here I thought you were from New York," Pepper joked. "You sound like a veritable surfer dude right now."

"New York born with a California infusion," Tony interjected. "Now what is it that you always tell me…oh yeah, hurry up and stop stalling." He said in jest as he tossed a pillow from the couch at her, thus chasing her into the bathroom to change.

Half an hour later, Pepper stepped out of the bathroom in something that definitely caught Tony's attention. The two piece bathing suit she was wearing covered enough to not be lewd but would definitely raise the pulse rates of certain men. As she tied her hair up into a loose pony tail, Pepper checked that her purple top was securely tied before tying a sheer sarong over the brightly colored flowers on the bottom.

Tony had to force himself to behave when Pepper came out no matter how much he did not want to. He had to admit though that this one was by far better than the little red one he also liked and very rarely saw. "Ready to go?"

Pepper grabbed a book, a towel and her sunglasses and smiled. "Lead the way." She offered to Tony, purposely making him go first so he wouldn't be staring at her ass.

Once they were down at the Cocoon beach on the hotel property, Tony let Pepper pick the spot since she was the one who would undoubtedly turn into a lobster without the proper shade. Pepper looked around for a moment and found a spot that seemed perfect, half full sun and half tree shade. She unfolded her towel and set it on a chaise as a waiter was coming by with two mimosas and a bowl of fruit.

"Do you want me to help you putting on sunscreen?" Tony offered as he saw Pepper attempting to settle down with her book.

"No thank you, Tony. I did it myself earlier." Pepper politely declined.

"How did you get your back?" Tony countered.

"I got it." Pepper said quickly, trying to brush him off.

"I highly doubt that. I know very few people who are flexible enough to be able to put sunscreen on their own back and not miss spots. Now, forgive me for saying this but with out proof to the contrary, I don't think you are one of those people." Tony replied.

Pepper dug the sunscreen out from her bag and tossed it at Tony. "Fine, you win." She huffed.

Tony just smirked as he sat behind her on the chair. "I don't see why you feel the need to fight me on this," he said softly as he started to slowly rub the sunscreen into her back. "I am only trying to help. I know you burn and I don't want to see that happen. Besides for it potentially causing skin cancer, it would ruin our vacation."

As Tony spoke about the dangers of the sun, Pepper sort of tuned him out a bit. Her mind started to wander away from him proving his genius to his strong, skilled and surprisingly tender hands working the sun block into her back. His long strokes were better than any massage she had ever had and she soon found herself drifting into a small fantasy involving Tony's hands. Just as she was about to dive head first into her very pleasant dream, Tony stopped.

"All done," he told her with a smile. He couldn't hide the smile. Just being able to touch Pepper without her freaking out on him was enough to drive him nuts. As the breeze blew, he could catch the soft subtle scent of vanilla in her shampoo. Did she remember that he liked vanilla? Not willing to ask just to have Pepper flip out and run from him, Tony opted to keep his mouth shut.

Pepper had to think quickly and her brain wasn't necessarily controlling all of her actions. She tilted her head back slightly with a smile. "You missed a spot."

Tony was about to protest the fact that there was no way he could have missed a spot until he saw the smile and decided to play along. "You're right and I know exactly where it is," he said warmly as he brushed back her pony tail and placed a kiss at the nape of her neck.

Pepper tensed up when she felt the kiss. That was certainly not what she was expected and she froze. She could not cross this line…not like this. "Thanks, I'm going to go get wet before getting settled," Pepper said quickly as she bolted up and ran for the water, trying to outrun her invading feelings for Tony that were supposed to stay very far down.

Tony was a little taken back and maybe even a tad offended by Pepper's reaction but there was no way in hell he was going to let her get away that quickly. He ran down to the water after her, diving in as he hit the shore and going under so he could sneak up behind her for a better maneuver.

Having Pepper in his sights, Tony swam down and got underneath her so she would be sitting on his shoulders and then Tony stood up.

Pepper screamed as Tony came up from the water beneath her. "Put me down!"

"As you wish," Tony replied before tossing her playfully into the water with a smirk and setting off a water fight.

A few hours later, after Tony stopped gloating about his apparent but disputed victory over Pepper, they managed to sit down together for a light lunch together. For once, not taking total advantage of the open bar, Tony only ordered a beer while Pepper sipped at Sea Breezes, quite a few of them.

Tony watched her polish off at least three of them before he pondered mentioning the fact that she doesn't drink very much, at least not like him, and he was seriously getting worried about her staying on her feet.

"These go down easy," Pepper giggled as she finished off her salad.

"I've noticed," Tony said with a laugh as he nibbled on the last of his fries.

"You don't drink beer though," Pepper pointed out as she gestured to Tony's empty bottles.

"Only on two occasions do I drink beer," Tony pointed out as he signed the bill and then helped Pepper up from her seat. "One is when I'm with Rhodey because it's all he ever buys and two is when I'm not aiming to get drunk. Beer isn't strong enough to knock someone like me on my ass." He said as he offered his hand to walk with Pepper back down to the beach to catch the last of the day's rays.

Back on the sand, Pepper settled into her chair in the shade with her book and politely declined Tony's offer of putting more sun block on her. After this morning, she wasn't exactly sure she could still resist him. "I'll be fine in the shade here. The tree should protect me well enough."

"Can't say I didn't offer," Tony sighed as he stripped off his t-shirt carefully and balled it up on his chest in just the right manner to hide the arc reactor as he stretched out on the chaise in the sun, setting his watch to remind him to flip every forty-five minutes as he dozed off under the warm sun.

For those few hours, time was really forgotten. The sun was much lower in the sky as Pepper nearly finished her book and she wanted to go inside. She glanced over in Tony's direction and smiled. He was lying on his stomach, his head pillowed on his arms and snoozing lightly. Pepper got up from her chair and laid her hand on his shoulder which was sun kissed and warm to the touch to wake him gently.

Tony stirred under the soft weight in her hand. "Hi…what's up?" he asked, slightly sleepy still from his nap.

"I'm heading up to the room," Pepper informed him as she started to gather her things.

"Pepper, let me get that," Tony stopped her after he put his shirt back on and gathered up both of their belongings. "This is a vacation, remember? You're not working." He said as he motioned for her to head up to the room.

Once up in the room, Tony dumped the beach things on a chair and headed into his own bathroom to take a shower while Pepper turned and went into hers.

She shut the door and turned on the light all before looking up into the wall of mirrors.

She half gasped and half screamed. "Oh my god…"


	14. 150 Tipsy

"_**Oh my god…"**_

In the split second that Tony heard Pepper scream from across the suite, he flew out of the bathroom, still in his swimsuit, to see if she was alright. Truth be told, he would run into a burning building bare ass naked if he thought Pepper was in trouble.

"How could this have happened? I was under a tree the whole time. Why didn't you tell me, Tony?" Pepper screamed out through the door.

"Pepper, what's wrong?" Tony called through with concern.

"I did everything right. This shouldn't have happened." Pepper cried out. "This doesn't happen at home."

"Pepper, please open the door. I can't do anything unless you let me." Tony pleaded with her.

There was a pause for a few moments before Pepper slowly opened the door.

Tony took one look at her and bit his tongue to keep his comments at bay but only one thing came into his mind when he saw her…she was a lovely shade of hot rod red. "This doesn't happen at home because I built you a veritable cabana out of a huge canvas umbrella and curtains that doesn't let any amount of sunlight in. Leaves aren't that solid." Tony said carefully.

"That's not funny, Tony. Why didn't you tell me?" Pepper demanded.

"I was asleep. At lunch you hadn't gotten burned yet." Tony protested.

Pepper did not like that response and slammed the door in Tony's face. "I think dinner is out of the question now."

"I hate to split hairs here but we do have a bet and an agreement," Tony stated. "It is my day to pick and staying around the hotel room without any extracurricular activities can be pretty damn boring." He called through the door.

"I can't go out looking like this!" Pepper called back through the door.

Tony threw up his hands in frustration as he backed away from her bathroom door, almost throwing in the towel until he thought of one thing. "Pepper, if I promise to be on my best behavior and not to make any red hot pepper comments, will you come down to dinner with me?"

As soon as Tony heard the click of the door knob turning, he ran for his room.

"Anthony Edward Stark...you get your ass back here and say that to my face." Pepper shouted angrily

"No way," Tony replies as he ducked into his bedroom. "Because I like living and sometimes you are more dangerous than the missiles that fly at my head." He closed the door just as a flip flop flew across the room in his direction.

Nearly an hour later, Tony was sitting on the living room couch, his suit jacket slung over the arm of the couch and his tie still undone around his neck, flipping through the channels to keep himself occupied while he waited. Soon enough he heard the click of Pepper's door and he turned and smiled when he saw her. She was standing in her doorframe in a purple and black silk halter dress with her hair done up in a loose bun. "You look beautiful," Tony stated with a smile as he stood up and walked over to her.

"You're just saying that." Pepper chided him.

"No, I'm not." Tony insisted. "You look so good that no one will even notice the burn. I know I'm just a little bit distracted."

Pepper sighed and took what Tony said as a compliment in a roundabout way. "Okay, that was sweet in a sort of twisted way but if I see someone staring or pointing…"

"I will deal with them personally at your request," Tony interrupted as he offered Pepper his arm. "They will not want to mess with Iron Man, whether they can recognize me or not. I promise no one will disturb us."

Pepper nodded and took Tony's arm. It did help that he promised that nothing would disturb them.

Tony had reserved a table with the view of the ocean in the L'intempo restaurant in the hotel for them, making sure that he requested a table away from the rest so they would not be disturbed. The restaurant was only happy to comply when they received a nice tip from Tony.

Off from the main crowd they could enjoy their meal in peace. Tony ordered a bottle of wine for the two of them to share, one of his favorite Bordeaux reds which were very hard to get in California.

"I probably shouldn't drink any more," Pepper stated as Tony opened the bottle and poured each of them a glass.

"Just one glass won't hurt and this is worth it. How often do you see me go for wine rather than hard liquor?" Tony replied as he set the bottle down and took a sip. "If I could get this at home all the time, I would seriously need to give up scotch."

That convinced Pepper to at least try it. She sipped from the glass and was amazed and thoroughly understood why Tony liked it so much. It was a good mixture of sweet and dry and went down very easily, so easily that she didn't realize that she finished the first glass and refilled it. She was nervous and not paying much attention to what she was doing…not a good sign.

"So do you think you'll keep your new look when we go home?" Pepper asked out of the blue after they placed their orders.

"Probably not…too much of a pain in the ass to shave every day. I plan on growing it back as soon as we get home." Tony admitted. "But then again, I haven't had to do this on a regular basis since I was twenty-two."

"You look younger without the beard." Pepper stated as she sipped from her glass.

"That was why I grew it in the first place." Tony said with a laugh. "I kept getting ID'd and it was getting annoying. Everyone still swore I was seventeen."

"Speaking of when you were a kid, did you take vacations like this with your parents?" Pepper inquired.

Tony shrugged. "Not quite like this. We did go to Hawaii and Aspen a few times and Disney World once but most of the times vacations, when I could go when I wasn't in school, were where my Dad went on business trips."

"Did you have a favorite vacation when you were little?" Pepper asked as the waiter was bringing their meals.

"I did have one," Tony mused as he started in on his dinner. "But it wouldn't be one that you would expect."

"Well, what was it?" Pepper pushed.

"I think I was about nine…I know I was definitely in high school when we went…and my father decided to do a typical east coast vacation…going to the shore. So, we went to Ocean City, Maryland. We did the whole Boardwalk and mini-golf thing, pigged out on French fries and make your own sundaes and probably hit every one of those seafood buffets. We spent time on the overly crowded beaches, went deep sea fishing and saw that island with the ponies…everything any normal family would have done."

"Why is it your favorite? I would have pegged EPCOT as your dream come true." Pepper commented.

"EPCOT was awesome but I liked this one because there were no cameras, no one bugging us and no one knew I was a nine year old high school sophomore. I got to play with the other kids and no one knew anything except that I was from Long Island." Tony explained.

Pepper finished off another glass and smiled as she refilled it. "I know Ocean City very well. I spent nearly every summer there growing up."

Over the course of dinner, Tony and Pepper managed to keep the conversation light by swapping vacation stories from their childhood. Neither one really kept track of the time. The only sign that they had been there for a while was the two empty wine bottles and a very inebriated sun burnt Pepper. Tony had eased off the wine a little earlier than Pepper did and he had a much higher tolerance for alcohol than his assistant. He just sat back and watched as she got more and more drunk and very giggly. It was a little amusing for him to watch his ever professional assistant let loose like this.

"I want to go to the casino," Pepper slurred a little bit after she had finished her meal. "I haven't had a chance to gamble at all here yet."

Tony looked over at Pepper and assessed how drunk she was. "I think it might be a better idea to do that another night when you're not sloshed." For once, he was the voice of reason.

"Excuse me, I think I would know what I am capable of doing," Pepper said as she tried to stand up, wobbling a bit by her chair. "I am perfectly capable of playing a few hands of cards or the slots. Weren't you shooting Craps drunk in Vegas before Afghanistan?" she blurted out.

"Yes and I lost about a million on one roll thanks to Rhodey." Tony stated.

"Anything you can do…so can I." Pepper insisted.

Tony sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head as he signed for the bill. "Okay, we'll go on a few conditions," Tony started as Pepper crossed her arms in front of her like a stubborn child. "Number one, stay right by me…if they see that you are…how you are…they won't let you gamble. Number two, I pick the games and set the limits since you're playing with my money here and three…you have to do everything I say. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal," Pepper said as she shook his hand in a little bit of an over exaggerated motion.

Tony just sighed as took Pepper's arm and interlocked it with his so he could steady her enough to get to the casino.


	15. 186 Flustered

Once they were inside the casino, Tony scanned the room quickly. It didn't take him very long to find a nearly empty Black Jack table near the high rollers section. He held Pepper close to make sure she still walked smoothly to not arouse any suspicions. He pulled Pepper's chair out for her before sitting down himself. Since Tony had been here a few nights already, he pulled out his gaming card and gave it to the dealer.

"Ten thousand for me and the lady each." Tony instructed the dealer as the waitress came around to take drink orders.

"DiSaronno and scotch on the rocks," Tony told her and was tempted to tell them to skip Pepper but that would spoil their plan. In the end, even he couldn't have too many. For what he wanted to do, Tony needed to keep his head as clear as possible.

"Sea breeze, please." Pepper said with a smile as she and Tony were dealt their chips.

The dealer started to dole out the cards and Tony became intently focused on the cards that were being laid down. As every card came up, he was running statistics in his head and trying to keep track of what cards came up. He told Pepper when to hit, when to stay, when to split and when to double down. The dealer looked at him strangely once and Tony just explained that it was Pepper's first time playing and she was inexperienced. It was a believable lie.

After only a few hands, the original $20,000 investment between the two of them had grown to $200,000 but their luck was turning. After Pepper had finished off her drink, she was totally done for. Tony knew he had to get her out of there before they were thrown out. He cashed in their chips and then helped her up to get her to the car to get back to the hotel.

* * *

By the time Tony and Pepper reached the suite, Pepper was gone. Tony picked her up and carried her into her room and set her gently on the bed. She seemed so peaceful despite the fact that she was unconscious but this presented a new problem for Tony. She couldn't sleep in what she had on but taking care of things could easily get him slapped.

Deciding it was better to beg forgiveness rather than ask permission, Tony rifled through Pepper's dresser to see if he could find her pajamas. The delicate scents of her soap and lingering perfume were hitting him and driving him to the point of insanity and making his pants a little uncomfortable. After a few minutes, he found Pepper's pajamas and cringed. He looked at the two piece little lacy thing and knew he would be facing certain death if he even attempted to put it on Pepper. Not wanting to cheat death right at this moment, Tony thought quickly and went over to his own room and pulled out one of his t-shirts, something he could get on her with minimal risk of being killed.

When Tony returned to Pepper's room, he sat down on her bed and pulled Pepper into his lap and leaned her against him, silently wondering how many times she had done something similar for him. He pulled the t-shirt over her head first and put her arms through before he unbuttoned the halter top of the dress and let it fall off of her without revealing a thing. Tony then picked her up again and tucked her into bed like he did after the movie and got the hell out of there.

And just like after that damned movie, Tony was left with the same problem…again. This was getting to be a bad pattern whenever he was in touching distance of Pepper and lead to less than desired results. He had to clear his head if he wanted to even attempt to go to sleep tonight without a repeat of that _Pretty Woman_ dream.

Tony went down to his bathroom and started the hot water in the bathtub. A hot bath could definitely relax him and clear his head. He stripped down and slipped into the hot water and leaned his head against the back of the tub and closed his eyes. It wasn't long though before his over active imagination took over and his semi-aroused state went to full blown with the images of Pepper joining him in the tub dancing around in his subconscious. The fantasy in his mind was almost deep enough for him to feel her body against his which brought on an increasingly annoying problem that would need to be dealt with and one he hadn't had to deal with this much since he was sixteen.

Pepper awoke suddenly and deeply regretted sitting up as fast as she did when her head started to spin. Now, given her state of inebriation and lack of total wakefulness, no one could blame her for a poor sense of direction. She stumbled out of her bed and down the darkened hallway to the sliver of light that she thought was her bathroom to get a glass of water. She kept her hand to the wall to steady herself as she walked, not ever noticing that she was walking WAY too far. When she got to the sliver of soft light, Pepper pushed the door open, walked inside and then stopped dead in her tracks with a gasp. She swallowed hard when she saw Tony in the bath in a very aroused state. It wasn't the fact that she hadn't witnessed such a state before. On the contrary, she had seen it too many times for her taste when following pretty little playthings that she had to escort out in the morning. It was just this time her defenses weren't what they usually were and the sight of him was going right to the primal core of her.

Tony froze when he saw Pepper open the bathroom door. He now had two options with this incredibly awkward situation and he had to choose one quickly. He could easily make some smart ass comment about Pepper joining him but it might not go over as well as he planned in her less than sober state. Option two required a bit more effort on his part…pretend nothing was going on and make sure Pepper was alright. Option two seemed the healthier way to go.

"Are you alright, Pepper?" Tony asked with concern as he sat up a bit in the water, trying to discretely hide something that wasn't so easily hidden.

"I…I…I'm fine," Pepper stammered out a little breathlessly as her gaze did not move from Tony.

"Do you need anything?" Tony asked gently.

Pepper shook her head quickly and swallowed hard again and took a few steps back out of the door. "I didn't mean to…" she stammered out before turning around to make her way back to her room and trying not to look back.

Tony's pulse rate only started to slow down when Pepper backed out of the door. That was definitely not how he pictured things. "This is going to be one long, frustrating night," he thought to himself as he slid under the hot water.


	16. 84 Relax

The skies outside were dreary as the rain fell steadily outside the window. There was no sunlight to pour between the curtains but daylight was enough to wake Pepper and make her wish she had not. She sat up slowly, keeping her eyes closed as she held her head against the splitting headache that was claiming her. Once a particularly severe wave subsided, Pepper attempted to get out of bed. It took three tries to overcome the dizziness that toppled her back to the bed. Once she finally got into the bathroom, Pepper turned the lights on only the dimmest setting and splashed some water on her face. As she was wiping her face off with a towel, Pepper looked in the mirror and screamed. Why in hell was she wearing _**Tony's**_ Guns and Roses t-shirt?! She started to hyperventilate a bit as she did a quick check to make sure her bra and panties were still in place and when that checked out there was only one place to turn. _**"TONY!!!"**_

Tony had another night with very little sleep, no thanks to Pepper's little surprise when he was in the tub. He had already ordered a light breakfast for himself and Pepper and was dozing on the living room couch when he heard Pepper scream. He practically fell off the couch as he scrambled to his feet to see what was wrong. He skidded to a stop right by Pepper's bathroom door only to be greeted by a furious assistant with a case of bed head. "Something wrong?"

"Why am I wearing YOUR shirt?" Pepper demanded angrily.

Tony thought the truth may be the best option in this case. "Because you were rather drunk and I didn't want you to kill me for putting you in your pjs but I swear I didn't see anything."

"You put me in this! How could you have put me in this and not seen anything?" Pepper screamed.

"If you don't think I can undress a woman with my eyes closed after all these years, you don't give me enough credit." Tony countered. "I promise…I saw nothing, Pepper."

"Prove it. What color underwear am I wearing, Tony?" Pepper said as she crossed her arms over her chest as she issued her challenge.

"I don't know. As I said, I didn't look." Tony said honestly.

"What color underwear am I wearing?" Pepper repeated with snippy tone.

"I said I don't know."

"What color?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"What color?!"

"Pink!" Tony finally screamed out in sheer frustration.

Pepper smiled when she heard Tony's answer since she was wearing blue underwear.

"Trust me Pep, you saw far more of me than I did of you," Tony admitted when he saw the anger go down.

Pepper gave Tony a look of confusion at that statement. It was only then, after her anger had been abated, did she remember the hangover she had and her body started to sway and crumble against her wishes.

Tony saw her start to slide and he moved quickly to catch her and guide her over to the couch to sit down. "Here, take these and drink the juice," he said softly as he sat her down and handed her a glass of orange juice. "You've done this enough for me. Let me take care of you for once." He insisted as he made sure she was comfortable and then ducked back into her bathroom.

Pepper melted into the pillows on the couch as she took the peace offering of Advil and orange juice, sipping it slowly as her head pounded and wondering what Tony was doing in her bathroom. As long as he didn't get into trouble, she really didn't care at the moment what he did.

A few moments later Tony reappeared out of what was now a steam filled bathroom and offered his hand to her. "Come on Potts. I've got something that will make you feel better."

Pepper pathetically batted his hand away as she gave him a very ineffective glare. "I can walk there on my own, Tony." She insisted as she tried to stand up and instantly fell back down to the couch with a small whimper of pain.

"I can see that," Tony said with a laugh as he bent down and lifted her up and carried her into the bathroom.

Pepper was about to protest again that she could walk and did not need to be carried but the logical part of her brain told her she couldn't and she should shut up about it, especially when Tony's arms were so comforting and resting her head against his shoulder made it feel better.

Hating to put her down, especially when she looked so comfortable, Tony very reluctantly set her down in the chair next to the hot bath he had drawn for her. "Just take it easy, relax and take as long as you want." He told her gently. "If you need me to wash your back for you…"

Pepper shot him a dark look as she splashed some of the water at him to chase him out of the bathroom. It was bad enough he got her changed before and she wasn't about to let him memorize what he didn't see before.

"Seriously, if you need anything, please call me." Tony said in a more gentlemanly fashion as he ducked out of the bathroom and pulled the door mostly closed so he could still hear her if it was needed while he flopped back on the couch in the living room, after changing his wet pajama pants.

Once the door was closed, Pepper stripped off Tony's t-shirt and her underwear and slipped into the blessedly hot water and let it melt away all the pain she was feeling. Tony must have put bath salts in the water or something like that because the soft scent of lavender was loosening the pain in her head and muscles. After soaking for an unknown length of time, parts of the night before started to come back to Pepper. "Tony? Did we go to the casino last night?" she called out the door.

"We did and we won." Tony confirmed as he called back from the living room.

"How did we do so well if one and possibly both of us were drinking? What did we play?" Pepper asked hating that she couldn't remember what happened.

"We were playing Black Jack and you had far more to drink than I did for once," Tony stated. "And we won because you had an MIT genius helping you and for once you listened to every word I said."

"What do you mean, Tony?"

Tony sighed. He didn't want to necessarily reveal his trick but he knew Pepper wouldn't let him off so easy. "Have you ever seen the movie _21_?"

"I think so, why?"

"Well, there actually was a Black Jack team at MIT with a series of tricks and strategies that was nothing more than quick, simple math," Tony started to explain carefully. "Most of them were math and engineering students so I had the opportunity to meet some of them and they taught me some of their skills since they knew I was too young to use it against them. I happen to remember their lessons very well."

"Are you saying you were counting cards?" Pepper asked. "Isn't that illegal?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes and it's not necessarily illegal. Casinos just really don't like when you keep tabs on them." Tony corrected her.

Pepper slid down a bit more in the water. "How well did we do anyway?"

"About 180k profit." Tony said calmly. "And yes I will give you your half."

Pepper smiled at that fact and then something else popped back into her head. "Tony, what did you mean that I saw a lot more of you than you did me?"

Tony froze a bit when he heard this question. He got up from the couch and went into her room to find her a t-shirt, lounge pants and underwear, something that was a great deal easier with the lights on. He walked over to her bathroom and slipped the clothes inside of the door crack without looking before performing the artful dodge that he was so masterful with. "Huh? What was that Potts? I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Didn't you say that to me this morning?" Pepper questioned again as she saw Tony's hand slip her clothes inside the door for her.

"Nope, wasn't me. You must have been dreaming." Tony offered up quickly as he dropped her clothes for her and went back to the living room, congratulating himself at not having to explain what she actually did see.

When the water finally grew cold, Pepper eased out of the tub, feeling better but still not totally herself yet. She dried off, brushed out her hair and tied it back in a loose ponytail and put on the clothes that Tony had graciously brought in for her. Once she was presentable, she slowly opened the door to see Tony dozing on the couch with the TV on. She crossed over to him and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Tony stirred and jolted awake under her touch. "Feeling better?"

"A bit, thank you." Pepper said with a smile.

"Anything you want to do today since it is technically your day to pick?" Tony asked softly.

"I really don't want to do much of anything except curl up with a warm blanket and relax." Pepper admitted.

"Sounds perfect, you and me cuddled in bed on a rainy day is great for me." Tony said with a smile as he sat up.

"I never said bed, Tony," Pepper warned. "Couch." She had already ended up in bed once with him over this vacation and a second time she may not have as much resistance to his charms.

"Even better…smaller and we have to be closer together… quite cozy and can be VERY fun," Tony said with a smirk.

"Tony…"

Tony held up his hands to ward off a potential explosion. "A few days ago you took care of me when I wasn't feeling well so why can't I return the favor?" he stated. "And I have been told that I make a fairly decent pillow." He said as he stretched out on the couch and patted the spot next to him. "Come on, Pep. I promise to be good."

Pepper sighed and debated it for a moment before taking him up on his offer. She crawled over Tony's legs and settled into the spot next to him and laid her head on his shoulder again, finding that comfortable spot that she had before when he was carrying her.

Tony wrapped his arm around her gently, pausing only to make sure he wasn't aggravating her sunburn since he did not want to cause her any more pain than she was already in. Once she assured him that she was comfortable, he handed the remote to her and let her control what they were going to watch.

The morning passed quickly through various movies that Tony and Pepper may or may not have seen the whole thing. After lunch, both of them were very relaxed but Tony was the first to start get a little drowsy. Pepper, though very comfortable using Tony as a pillow, knew she shouldn't be and tried to keep her mind going to stay awake.

"Tony? Where did your Uncle Marco live?" Pepper asked randomly as Tony was drifting in and out of sleep.

"First Florence and then he had a villa in Torino." Tony whispered.

"Is your Uncle Marco still alive?"

"Unfortunately," Tony mumbled.

"Why unfortunately?" Pepper asked, sensing Tony's defenses weren't as securely in place as they usually are and she might be able to get a few things out of him.

"Because the man is a cantankerous ninety something who can't stand me." Tony stated, a little more awake than before.

At that, Pepper paused, letting Tony calm down and start to drift off again before slipping in the next question. "So have you thought about visiting Marco since we are so close?"

The answer to that was simple and quick. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because I just told you, he hates me. He always has." Tony restated.

"Things could change, Tony. I want to go visit him and meet this man for myself." Pepper countered. "If you do this for me, I will let you pick what we do for the rest of the time here…every day."

"Why do you want to do this so much when I could care less?" Tony asked in puzzlement. "Are you trying to make me suffer after I have just taken such good care of you?"

Pepper sighed. She knew this would be difficult. "Because I care about you Tony and as much as you don't want to admit it, he is family."

Tony sat up now, getting a little annoyed at Pepper's persistence on this topic. "Family does not do to family what he did to me, Pepper." He ground out. "At my parents' funeral, he was asked to look after me for a bit until everything was settled so I wouldn't be alone at that time. You wanna know what he did? He looked the lawyer who asked him and then over at me while I was still in tears from the service and told them that he wanted NOTHING to do with me…ever. You call that family? There may be a blood tie but that is not family."

Tony was being stubborn and even though he had a point, Pepper was not giving up that easily. "Tony, he is an old man. Go and see him, if he still doesn't want anything to do with you, you can at least look back and know that you tried if not for you but for your mom. You know she would hate what he did to you, but she would also hate that you didn't show you are the better man and go to talk to him."

"That's a low blow, Pepper." Tony grumbled as he reached back for the phone.

"Tony, what are you doing?" Pepper asked.

"What you wanted," he said dryly as he dialed the front desk. "Si, ho bisogno due biglietti di andata e ritorno da Nice a Torino, Italia per domani." He said to the desk man who answered the phone before pausing for his response, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose to ward off the headache that Marco was going to give him. "Va bene. A che ora parte il treno? Alle dieci? D'accordo. Mette il costo sul conto per la camera. Grazie."

"You'll see that I'm right about this," Pepper insisted when Tony hung up the phone.

"I hope you are or this is going to be one hell of a nightmare."


	17. 105 Understand

The beautiful Italian countryside that went speeding by the windows of the train was a direct contrast to the mood inside. Tony sat across from Pepper, gazing silently out the window. His face was emotionless but underneath a volcano was rumbling, threatening to explode at any time. The tension in his body was radiating off in waves, the direct opposite of his usual travel habits. Pepper did not see this side often, this side usually only came out in New York when he truly meant business, and when she did, she knew to not set him off.

"Things will all work out for the best, Tony." Pepper stated, trying to be reassuring.

"Keep telling yourself that, Potts," Tony deadpanned without even looking at her. "You might begin to believe it."

It had been arranged for a car to meet them at the train station in Torino. The Piedmontese roads were difficult and windy through the mountains to Marco's villa and hard to follow even for a local. The villa was technically located closer to Asti rather than Torino in an area called Montferrato, an area filled with gentle hillsides and open spaces away from the main metropolitan area of Torino.

The driver pulled up to the main gate of the villa, revealing a beautiful garden with several large fountains showcased within them and a house that its designed harkened back to a time that could be called a cross between Ancient Rome and Victorian Europe. The driver let Tony and Pepper out and handed Tony the small overnight bag that they had brought. He instructed the driver to be ready when he called them to bring them to a hotel if necessary and sent him off.

"Ready for the most frigid reception you'll ever receive?" Tony asked as he walked up to the front door and knocked.

The massive front door opened to reveal a middle aged woman with dark hair. "Posso aiutarli?" she asked politely.

"Noi vogliamo vedere Marco Carbonelli." Tony answered.

"Chi si chiamano?"

Tony sighed. "Mi chiamo Anthony Stark e io sono il nipote di Marco. Possiamo vederlo?"

The woman paused and reluctantly opened the door and allowed them entrance to the villa. "Venite con me." She instructed them as she waved her hand for them to follow her.

The inside of the house was far more modest than the outside. Aside for the fine upholstery on the furniture and a few paintings on the wall and house plants, there wasn't much to the décor.

The maid escorted Tony and Pepper out to a large balcony where an old but seemingly still vital man sat over looking the gardens with a bottle of wine in front of him. He was dressed in a white button down shirt and khaki pants with a straw hat and sunglasses, seemingly oblivious to their arrival.

"Scusi signore, mi dispiace ti disturbo ma tuo nipote è qui." The maid said.

"Io non ho un nipote." Marco said bitterly as he sipped his wine. "Come si chiama?"

"Lui si chiama Anthony Stark." The maid dutifully replied and was thoroughly ready to throw them out if necessary.

Marco slowly turned in his chair and took off his sunglasses to let the dark stare in his eyes bore into Tony for disturbing him. "Va bene Carmina. Tu puoi partire." He said gruffly as he waved her off. "Chi è questa donna con te? Tua moglie?"

"No zio Marco." Tony corrected him. "Ti presento signorina Virginia Potts. Lei è la mia impiegata, la mia assistente personale e la mia amica migliore." He said as he pulled out one of the chairs at the table for Pepper to sit at.

"What did he say, Tony?" Pepper whispered, not exactly enjoying the language barrier here.

"He asked who you were." Tony replied quickly since Marco was staring at him. "Che cosa il problema?" he snapped.

"Questa donna è più di un'amica. Tu hai i sentimenti per questa bella donna. Tu hai amore per lei." Marco pointed out rather quickly.

"Si ma è complicata. Non lo so se lei ha i stessi sentimenti." Tony responded before Pepper nudged his hand for a translation.

Tony couldn't tell her the truth so he had to think fast. "He was complimenting your beauty." He lied.

Marco nodded to the apparent thanks he got from Pepper before turning back to Tony disapprovingly. "Non è giusto, Antonio." He scolded him. "Questa è una vergogna alla memoria dei tuoi genitori. Tu non sei l'uomo che hanno allevato. Tu sei una vergogna ai loro nome con questa vita."

That was the trigger that Tony could not hold back from. "Io sono una vergogna? Non che pensare. Tu non hai il giusto di parlare dei miei genitori come questo. Se hai interessato in loro o appena mia madre saresti preso io in custodia." He roared back in retailiation.

"Perche avrei cura di una persona chi era come tuo padre e era una memoria della morta della tua madre?" Marco said in a cold and heartless tone.

"Impossible!" Tony shouted in frustration before turning and storming off into the house.

As soon a Tony stormed off, Pepper was about to get out of her seat to go after him before Marco stopped her.

"Ferma, signorina." He told her gently as he touched her arm. "Lasciarlo."

"Excuse me," Pepper said politely. "I don't speak Italian."

"Leave him," Marco repeated in English. "Let him go."

"You speak English?" Pepper repeated in shock. "Why wouldn't you speak to Tony in English?"

"Because his Italian needs work." Marco said with a small laugh.

Pepper reluctantly sat back down, fighting the urge to run after Tony. It wasn't often she saw him that upset and when she did, it was her job to calm him down. "What did you say to him to upset him so badly?" she asked in a coolly polite tone.

"Nothing to worry yourself about, signorina." Marco said dismissively as he poured her a glass of wine. "Just some old wounds that never healed right. Now, tell me about yourself since my rude nephew neglected to do so. How long have you worked for him?"

Pepper thanked Marco for the wine and took a sip but her expression didn't change. She quickly understood why Tony got so angry. "More than twelve years and he pays me to worry about him. So, could you please tell me what upset him so?"

"He may pay you to worry about him but just by watching you I know you would watch over him for free." Marco stated, calling her feelings out on to the table. "I do admire your ability to hide your feelings and keep things professional. It took me a while to pick up on you because of that."

A slight blush crept into Pepper's cheeks at the fact that Marco so easily picked up her feelings for Tony. "You still haven't answered my question. Does this all go back to when his parents died?"

Marco froze for a moment. This one was perceptive and it was no secret now why Tony was attracted to her. "That was a long time ago but this goes back farther."

Pepper sighed; she would need to be direct about this. "Tony said that you were asked to take care of him temporarily after his parents died and you said no. Why would you do that? He believes that you have no affection for him at all."

"I have always cared about my niece's son. He and I were always very much alike but no one saw it. He was always compared to that miserable father of his and it would not have worked. I was angry and grieving and unfortunately I took it out on Antonio." Marco admitted as he took a sip of wine. "But lately, I have been reflecting on my past and wanting to correct it."

"Why now?" Pepper asked cautiously.

"Because I won't be around much longer." Marco admitted. "I can't let my stubbornness and bad blood follow me to the grave. I need to clear the air of what happened."

"Could you tell me what happened?" Pepper asked.

"This is not something you really need to get into, signorina." Marco stated, trying once again to dismiss her questioning.

"Forgive me but you clearly pointed out that I care for Tony, both professionally and personally. Right now, he is angry and incredibly upset. Now, I have dealt with him and managed him for quite sometime and you said you want to make amends with him. If you tell me how all of this started, I can probably help." Pepper insisted.

"You are very persistent, aren't you?" Marco pointed out as he finished his glass of wine and poured another. "This started when my brother Edoardo, decided to immigrate to America and start a new life away from the family. He left Italia and changed our name so there were no ties to the old country. It got worse when he approved the marriage between Maria and Antonio's father. He was the worst sort of American so I refused to even go to the wedding. As far as I was concerned, since I wasn't there…it didn't happen. I did not speak to my brother for five years after that."

"Then there was the family reunion…" Pepper interjected.

Marco nodded. "My brother was trying to mend fences but to do so he had Maria call me. To make my niece happy, I agreed to go. I know she was trying to impress me by having Antonio show off how much Italian he knew but he insulted me. I still believe that was Howard's doing or my brother. I got angry and was going to reprimand the boy before his blasted father stepped in and I washed my hands with all of them. The next thing I knew, I heard that my niece had been killed in a car crash."

"And you went to the funeral…" Pepper slipped in, just to try to keep him talking since she was quickly putting the pieces together.

"I went to the service in New York. I wanted to just pay my respects and leave without being noticed but it didn't work. Antonio recognized me, which I still wonder how he did considering how rarely I saw him. I know now what I did was foolish but I wasn't thinking then. A lawyer came up to me and asked if I could take Antonio in for a few months while everything settled. Now, I did not know that he had already graduated college and was working full time so I thought he was just an average seventeen year old. I had no experience raising children since my wife died in childbirth and I had no children after that so I didn't feel I was qualified. Then I was blinded by hatred and saw only Howard in the boy and not my niece so I said no. It was only after I had said it did I see Antonio standing there, crying, as the lawyer asked him to translate what I had said. I turned away and left as what I assumed was the boy's butler gathered him up and took him home. I haven't seen him since."

As the whole story unraveled, Pepper totally understood why Tony was so upset. "None of that was Tony's fault. One time he needed family around him, he didn't get it. Why didn't you ever try to make amends sooner? You said you wanted to make things right. What did you mean by that?"

"I wanted to try to find him. I did once but by that time he wasn't a man I wanted to speak to. More recently, my health hasn't been the best." Marco replied. "I only hope I'm not too late now. But if you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to take my medicine." He added as he excused himself from Pepper's company.

As soon as Marco left, Pepper went in search for Tony. She went back into the house and got fairly lucky. After looking in a few rooms, one of the house staff pointed to the terrace on the other side of the house, looking over the city. Tony was standing there, gazing out across the landscape, so keyed up that he was shaking. "Tony?" she called out softly to let him know that she was there.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Tony said softly with a shaking voice. "The man has always hated me and that hasn't changed."

"Tony, I have just spent the better part of the last hour with your uncle and I am going to have to disagree." Pepper said gently as she walked up next to Tony.

"How the hell can you refute me on this? He doesn't lower himself to speaking English." Tony spat as he looked at Pepper with reddened eyes.

"Well he spoke it very clearly to me," Pepper replied. "He also admitted to being a stupid, jealous and angry fool and he took it out his frustrations on you when you had nothing to do with it and he has always regretted it but he is also stubborn and can't get himself to apologize. It's something he wants to correct now that he has the opportunity."  
"But why now? What the hell took him so long?" Tony snapped.

"Because he's dying and he doesn't want this lingering on his soul while he has a chance to fix it." Pepper stated. "Please, go talk to him," she pleaded with him as she took hold of his hand.

Tony wanted to fight it but it wasn't worth it. He knew Pepper would win eventually and he let her guide him back to the terrace where his uncle was sitting.

Marco had returned to his seat at seemed at peace at least on the outside, despite the battle that was going on within. He straightened up a bit and stood when Pepper came back in but could not speak first to Tony. It was a perpetual standoff which one of them would need to break first.

"So I hear you speak English now?" Tony said sarcastically as he leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.

"In Italiano, Antonio," Marco corrected.

"Don't go giving me this bull shit when I know for a fact you have just been speaking with my assistant in English for the last hour," Tony countered. "And my name is Anthony. Stop calling me Antonio. When the hell did you learn English and why have you been making me do tricks here for so long?"

"I took it up again when I wanted to try to get in touch with you," Marco responded with a bit of ice in his tone. "I make you speak Italian because you need the practice."

"Well, your English sucks so I think that makes us even." Tony spat angrily as he prepared for a battle of wills with his uncle. There was no way he was cracking first as he started pacing back and forth like a caged lion. "Pepper said you wanted to talk to me."

Marco nodded and extended his hand to offer Tony a seat at the table. "Sit down please. I feel its time we get to know each other because I don't have much time left."  
Tony didn't even flinch towards the table. "Why should I care? You didn't care about me when I needed you most." He growled back angrily.

"That is one thing I wish to talk to you about but it would be easier if you were seated." Marco insisted.

"Easier? Why in hell should I make anything easier for you?" Tony roared as his body tensed up like a volcano ready to explode. "You sure as hell didn't do that for me. In fact I think you went out of your way to make my life harder." By this time, Tony was shaking with anger as his temper was building. "Explain something to me because even with my two Master's degrees from MIT, I still don't have the intellectual capacity to understand this. Tell me how you can look a crying seventeen year old boy in the face and have the gall to tell him you want nothing to do with him after he had just buried his parents. What kind of inhuman bastard does that?" Tony ground out as his eyes glassed over with angry tears that were threatening to fall.  
"I'm so sorry for that," Marco said honestly. "I was a stupid fool who let old anger cloud the right path to take. I blamed you for everything and none of it was your fault. I have wanted to apologize for so long but I have been too stubborn and my pride got in the way."

"But you've had years to do this. You're telling me that not once you considered picking up a phone or writing?" Tony spat as angry tears rebelliously fell down his cheeks.

"I did once." Marco quietly admitted. "The bank had a business transaction with Stark Industries, shortly after you became CEO. I asked to speak with the man in charge. They told me you were otherwise detained. I already knew that it meant you were either drunk or with some puttana so I spoke to a Mr. Stane instead. I realized then you were not a man I ever wanted to deal with."

"Traitorous bastard," Tony growled under his breath as he wiped at his eyes harshly. "So what changed your mind? Something must have or you would have thrown me out the second you saw me."

Marco sighed deeply, obviously trying to center himself and keep everything together. "It was the news of your capture," he said quietly.

At that phrase, Tony stopped pacing.

"I heard on the news that you were taken captive in Afghanistan and I was hit with the reality that I may never be able to fix what I did to you. When I heard that you had been taken, I went straight to Rome and lit an entire row of candles at San Pietro for you and prayed daily for your safe return. I made a vow that if you returned home safe, I would make amends with you for all I had done because I could not pass on with this lingering between us."

"I appreciate the sentiment but where I was, no will of God was going to reach. When you are that deep in the seventh level of Hell, only brute force and explosions can get you out." Tony stated quietly with a sniff as his eyes welled up again. "But I have been home for months and nothing. What were you waiting for?"

Marco didn't answer at first but instead bowed his head in shame.

"He had been ill, Tony," Pepper chimed in, saying what Marco couldn't.

"Why wasn't I told sooner?" Tony snapped.

"Because a prideful, stubborn old man would wait until the last minute to tell anyone he was dying." Marco countered finally. "I didn't want you here just because you thought I was dying. I wanted to make peace with you before anyone knew. I don't want pity or sympathy. I just wanted to finally let you know that I have always loved you."  
Tony froze as his uncle spoke. He didn't know how to respond to that or what to do. "Forgive me, but I never really learned how to say good bye." Tony said quietly.

"I don't want a goodbye from you; I want a hello and your forgiveness. That is all I need." Marco stated. "Can you forgive an old man a lifetime of mistakes?"

Tony swayed on his feet a bit, the adrenaline and anger that had flooded his system had dissipated and the lingering sadness was threatening to overcome him. Pepper, who had been forced to watch the whole explosion helplessly while Tony suffered, got up from her chair and guided Tony over to it to sit down as she stood behind him, offering what comfort she could. As he rested his head against her stomach and let the emotions that he had been fighting all day claim him, Pepper gently kissed the top of his head, wrapped one arm around him and ran her fingers lightly through his hair to calm him down.

"Antony?" Marco asked again when he didn't get an answer at first but hesitated to repeat himself since he could clearly see his nephew was crumbling in front of him.

Tony couldn't find his voice at that moment. As Pepper held him, he nodded his head in acceptance to the deal and his understanding of his uncle…finally.

* * *

**_Translation_**

"Posso aiutarli?" – May I help you?

"Noi vogliamo vedere Marco Carbonelli." – We want to see Marco Carbonelli.

"Chi si chiamano?" – Who is calling?

"Mi chiamo Anthony Stark e io sono il nipote di Marco. Possiamo vederlo?" – My name is Anthony Stark and I am Marco's nephew.

"Venite con me." – Come with me.

"Scusi signore, mi dispiace ti disturbo ma tuo nipote è qui." – Excuse me sir, I'm sorry to disturb you but your nephew is here.

"Io non ho un nipote." – I don't have a nephew.

"Come si chiama?"- What is his name?

"Lui si chiama Anthony Stark." – His name is Anthony Stark.

"Va bene Carmina. Tu puoi partire." – Very well Carmina. You may leave.

"Chi è questa donna con te? Tua moglie?" – Who is this woman? Your wife?

"No zio Marco." – No Uncle Marco

"Ti presento signorina Virginia Potts. Lei è la mia impiegata, la mia assistente personale e la mia amica migliore." – May I introduce to you Miss Virginia Potts. She is my employee, my personal assistant and my best friend.

"Che cosa il problema?" – What's the problem?

"Questa donna è più di un'amica. Tu hai i sentimenti per questa bella donna. Tu hai amore per lei." – This woman is more than a friend. You have feelings for this beautiful woman. You love her.

"Si ma è complicata. Non lo so se lei ha i stessi sentimenti." – Yes but it's complicated. I don't know if she has the same feelings.

"Non è giusto, Antonio." – This is not right, Anthony.

"Questa è una vergogna alla memoria dei tuoi genitori. Tu non sei l'uomo che hanno allevato. Tu sei una vergogna ai loro nome con questa vita." – This is a disgrace to the memory of your parents. You are not the man that they raised. You are a shame to their name with this life.

"Io sono una vergogna? Non che pensare. Tu non hai il giusto di parlare dei miei genitori come questo. Se hai interessato in loro o appena mia madre saresti preso io in custodia." – I'm a disgrace? I don't think so. You don't have the right to talk about my parents like this. If you cared about them or even just my mother, you would have taken me in.

"Perche avrei cura di una persona chi era come tuo padre e era una memoria della morta della tua madre?" – Why would I take in a person like your father and who was a memory of the death of your mother?


	18. 43 Content

"_I don't want a goodbye from you; I want a hello and your forgiveness. That is all I need." Marco stated. "Can you forgive an old man a lifetime of mistakes?"_

_Tony swayed on his feet a bit, the adrenaline and anger that had flooded his system had dissipated and the lingering sadness was threatening to overcome him. Pepper, who had been forced to watch the whole explosion helplessly while Tony suffered, got up from her chair and guided Tony over to it to sit down as she stood behind him, offering what comfort she could. As he rested his head against her stomach and let the emotions that he had been fighting all day claim him, Pepper gently kissed the top of his head, wrapped one arm around him and ran her fingers lightly through his hair to calm him down._

"_Antony?" Marco asked again when he didn't get an answer at first but hesitated to repeat himself since he could clearly see his nephew was crumbling in front of him._

_Tony couldn't find his voice at that moment. As Pepper held him, he nodded his head in acceptance to the deal and his understanding of his uncle…finally._

* * *

When the clock in the living room chimed for seven o'clock, it was the first recognition of how long everything had taken. Since the accord had been reached only a few minutes earlier, Tony had not moved from the chair that Pepper put him into after the fight and he was trying his damnedest to hide the fact that his hands were still shaking from the adrenaline that had been pushing him for so long.

"Have you given any thought to where you will be staying for the night?" Marco inquired when he took note of the time. "I am sure you already took note that there is only one train in either direction each day."

"I believe we were planning on staying at a hotel for the night," Pepper interjected since Tony wasn't in much of a state to give any information. "That was what Tony instructed the driver when we were dropped off."

Marco waved her off. "You will never find a room at this time of night anywhere close by. I insist that you stay here tonight and I will not take any discussion about it."

"Zio Marco," Tony finally spoke up weakly. "You don't need to do this."

"I said no discussion, Antony." Marco warned. "Let me just go and inform Carmina," he stated as he excused himself from the table.

When Marco was finally gone, Pepper finally had the opportunity to really see if Tony was alright. Being forced to watch him crumble like that was not something she liked doing and did not want to repeat it.

"Can I get you anything?" Pepper asked him gently.

Tony sighed and shifted slightly against her. "Besides for you being right here with me, I could really use a drink." He said quietly.

Pepper chuckled lightly at that comment but did not admonish him on it when it was plainly obvious that he needed her more than ever at that moment. "I'll see what I can do."

"Check the living room," Tony said as he pointed in the general direction. "If possible…scotch…four fingers…on the rocks."

Pepper laughed. "Tony, if you don't think I know what you drink by now then you must have been far more drunk than you originally thought." She stated as she headed in the direction that Tony pointed in.

The living room was very wide open and spacious but comfortable. She scanned the room and found an ornate wooden cabinet that she recognized. Tony had one that was almost identical in the mansion. She opened the door and found pretty much the same contents. Pepper found a glass and ice and poured the scotch in, just not as much as Tony requested, and brought it out to him.

Tony smiled when he saw the glass and held his hand out to receive it as soon as he saw it. Taking a slow sip from it, he became visibly more relaxed. "I build and play with things that blow up on a regular basis and he makes my hands shake." He stated as he took another sip.

After informing Carmina that there would be more for dinner and they would be staying the night, Marco returned to the terrace where he left Tony and Pepper and shook his head in disapproval at what Tony was drinking.

Tony saw the gesture as he took another sip from his scotch. "You drink what you want and I will do the same," he countered.

"But that is not the best I have," Marco stated. "I have several rare vintages that would do much better."

Tony looked at his glass and then back at his uncle before shooting back the remainder and setting the glass down on the table before he stood up. "Then crack them open with dinner and we'll see who's right." Tony stated as he took Pepper's hand and followed Marco into the dining room. "But I must state the smooth burn of a forty year old scotch does so much better than any wine."

Marco just shook his head as pointed to the two places set up for Tony and Pepper and at least nodded his approval when he noted that Tony did pull the chair out for Pepper while he got out three wine glasses. "Apparently my brother taught you nothing about fine vintages," he stated as he pulled out three very rare bottles of red wine – bottles that only collectors and dealers got a hold of.

"My mother favored the grape juice but my father had the distinction of favoring the kick that aged barley gave in its aftermath." Tony countered back.

"It would figure that you would go for the Anglo-German background instead of the Italian." Marco scoffed as he opened the first bottle and poured a glass for each of them.

"Don't start that again or Pepper and I are going to a hotel," Tony warned as he swirled the red lightly before taking a sip. "I must say this is good but more tests must be conducted for definitive proof." Tony stated, purposely showing off as the bravado was starting to come back.

As Carmina set down the plates for dinner and Marco poured a second glass for himself and Tony, he decided to get to know his nephew and his assistant a little bit better. "Signorina Potts has said that she has worked for you for quite sometime. How did you manage to acquire such a beautiful and obviously intelligent woman?"

"It was sort of a lucky accident," Tony stated. "It was sort of established kind of early on that I needed someone to keep me on task when necessary and over a two year span I had gone through twenty-three assistants and I put the call out for number twenty-four. I had a list of interviews set up until…"

"I called him out on a mathematical error that he had made in the accounting of the annual budget." Pepper interjected.

"Now, I still say that I didn't make the error but someone couldn't read my handwriting and transposed it wrong because my math is never wrong," Tony defended himself.

"Except for once," Pepper inserted with a quiet smirk.

Tony brushed off the comment. "Anyway, she insisted on it and refused to leave my office until I looked it over for myself. Security was about to remove her when I saw that she was right and I stopped them and promoted her right on the spot. Twelve years later, she keeps riding my ass and I keep giving her raises for it."

Marco suppressed a small laugh at Pepper's comment. He knew he liked this girl for a reason. "So, how did you manage to get into this part of the world? Last time I checked, Stark Industries did not have a Mediterranean office."

"Tony decided we needed a vacation from the chaos of Los Angeles," Pepper said diplomatically.

"So, we headed to Monte Carlo and once Pepper found out where you lived, she insisted we visit." Tony added in.

"Chaos?" Marco questioned as he refilled his and Tony's glasses again. "That wouldn't have anything to do with you coming out with…come si dice…io sono l'uomo di ferro?" he asked, accidently flipping back to Italian.

Tony cringed when Marco brought that up. "You heard about that?"

"I may live in the country, Antony, but I do have cable." Marco countered. "So, explain yourself."

Tony swallowed the wine back quick as he felt both Pepper's and Marco's stares boring into him for this. "Well…a lot of shit hit the fan and since it happened under my watch when it shouldn't have, it was my way of holding myself accountable for it. I couldn't hide behind the crappy story that they came up with just to save my own ass. I owned up to what happened and told the world apparently that I am Iron Man." Tony stated very clearly. "And because of me opening my mouth, I set off a media firestorm which made Pepper's life hell so this was my way of making things up to her."

"You should watch what you say around a lady, Antony." Marco warned.

Pepper waved him off. "Believe me, there has been far worse than that."

Tony shot her a look to shut up about that. He had turned over a new leaf after all.

"Nevertheless, he should not talk like that around you," Marco restated. "That's beside the point. The point is that despite the trouble you caused this beautiful signorina here, you took true responsibility and I'm proud of you."

Tony thanked him but couldn't say much more. It had been a very long time since someone had said they were proud of him sincerely.

The rest of dinner was spent catching up on thirty missed years that should not have been missed. As the meal wound down and Marco opened the third bottle of wine, he asked Carmina to show Tony and Pepper to where they would be staying for the night and to get them settled while he moved the wine and their glasses to the living room. Pepper was given a beautiful room decorated in soft pastel colors with light blue velvet and gold brocade curtains surrounding the large bed. Tony was set up in the adjacent library with a small couch that was about eight inches shorter than he was. No favoritism there.

By the time Tony and Pepper had come back from seeing their rooms, Marco had set up a chess board and had gotten another bottle of wine from his stores. Tony saw the chess board and smiled.

"I thought you might enjoy this," Marco said when he saw the smile on Tony's face.

"I have been known to play a decent game of chess as well as backgammon." Tony said as he took the seat across from Marco and picked up his refilled glass and made his first move.

Pepper sat down on the couch between them at first, sipping at her wine and quickly growing bored with the battle of wits in front of her. "Signor Carbonelli, do you mind if I explore the house a bit? It's just so beautiful and I haven't had the opportunity to truly appreciate it."

"Be my guest, signorina. Enjoy." Marco said warmly. "And there is no need to be so formal. Please, call me Marco."

"I will and thank you and please call me Virginia," Pepper replied with a smile before she went off away from the two lions at war. She wandered through the gardens and many of the rooms, seeing what antiques Marco has collected over his lifetime and admiring the books in the library as well as the pieces of priceless art on the walls and getting very pleasantly lost in it all.

Some time into the game, Marco realized that Tony wasn't playing up to his full potential. There were moves that he could have made that would have ended the game already or at least made things more difficult and Marco expected someone with two Masters' degrees from MIT to pick up on them. "Do not let me win, Antony." He warned.

Tony was very relaxed, leaning back in the chair with the wine glass in his hand. Yes, he had been going easy on the old man. He didn't want to slaughter him and wanted to give him at least half a chance. When he was called out again, Tony finished off the glass and straightened up. "Very well, then I must tell you that you are facing a two time chess champion." Tony warned as he seriously upped the game with his next move.

"I look forward to the challenge." Marco countered as he lost his Queen.

* * *

By the time Pepper had made it back to the living room, she was exhausted and Marco and Tony were still playing against each other and the second bottle had been opened.

"Do I even ask how it's going?" Pepper asked as she watched Tony go on the attack. She had watched him play chess many times, especially against two PhDs – Bruce Banner and Reed Richards – and watched him clean their clocks. When his genius really got going and he showed it, it was a dizzying and phenomenal sight to watch.

"I'm up by three matches," Tony called back without taking his eyes off the board.

"Well, I'm tired and I'm going to head to bed. Good night gentlemen." Pepper called out.

"Buona notte," Marco said warmly as he lost one of his Knights to Tony.

"I'll be up after we finish the bottle off," Tony stated as he watched Marco attempt to go after his Bishop. "I think that will be about two more matches."

"Even without his cars and Jarvis, he still stays up all night," Pepper laughed to herself as she climbed the small staircase to her room.

* * *

A few hours later, Pepper stirred and still saw a faint light coming from under the door. She seriously wondered if Tony and Marco were still battling each other. She slid from her bed quietly and opened the door to peek down into the living room and let out a sigh of relief when she found it empty and the chess set put away.

As she walked back to her room, she passed by Tony's room and heard his soft snoring coming from inside. From staying at the mansion so often to rather ungodly hours, Pepper had picked up a few habits. One of them was always making sure Tony was asleep and making sure he was okay. She peeked in the partially open door and barely made out Tony's sleeping form on the couch. Remembering how much he had actually drank and how long it has been since he had truly done that, Pepper ducked into the bathroom and filled a glass of water for him and two Advil from her purse and set them on the end table for Tony in the morning, knowing he would definitely need it, before heading back to bed herself.

"_Ms. Potts?"_

"Jarvis, let me sleep please." Pepper mumbles.

"_Ms. Potts? You need to wake up. Mr. Stark needs you urgently."_

At that Pepper bolted upright in bed and it took her a moment to realize she wasn't in the mansion in Malibu but in Italy and she dreamt that Jarvis was telling her to go check on Tony. It happened so often whenever Tony had a nightmare that it had slipped into her subconscious. Then it hit her, Tony _**DID**_ need her. She got out of bed and padded down the hall to his room and pushed open the door.

This time, the room was bathed in a blue glow because Tony had nearly kicked the blanket he had totally off. The arc reactor gave off enough light for Pepper to see Tony's t-shirt and jeans thrown over a chair at the end of the couch he was painfully curled up on. His face still held the echoes of the nightmare and had not yet fallen back into the peace of deep sleep.

Pepper crossed from the door and picked the blanket up from the floor and recovered Tony, tucking him in and making sure the arc reactor was covered. After covering him back up, Pepper stroked his hair gently before placing a soft kiss on his forehead. "Good night, Tony," she whispered before heading back to bed.

"Good night, Pepper…"

Pepper paused at the door for a moment, swearing she heard Tony's voice. She watched him roll over and fall back to sleep and she brushed it off. He couldn't have said it.

* * *

The sunrise over Montferrato was a positively spectacular sight to see from Marco's terrace. From the dark blue black clouds erupted a ray of red, orange and yellow that positively lit up the green of the vineyards below and warmed all the pink bricks of the town and the villa itself. No camera could truly capture this beauty and do it justice.

"Bella, is it not, signorina?" Marco asked as he walked out with two cappuccinos in his hand.

"Very. You don't get things like this in Malibu. There's too much pollution in the air." Pepper said as she thanked Marco for the cappuccino. "You're up early."

"I'm old. Old people don't sleep much. They worry too much about not waking up." Marco said with a laugh. "I could say the same for you as well."

"I'm used to getting up very early. Being Tony's assistant sort of sets the schedule. I am normally already at work by six in the morning so I can get everything done without working until three in the morning." Pepper explained.

"My nephew works you far too hard," Marco pointed out. "Speaking of Antony, where is he?"

"Tony won't be awake for quite sometime yet," Pepper explained. "The earliest he gets up on his own is nine and if he is woken up before that, he's usually not very pleasant."

Marco laughed. "Sounds like my brother," he exclaimed. "My housekeeper said she saw you going into Antony's room a few times during the night."

Pepper blushed a bit. She did not know that she had been caught. "Force of habit, I guess."

"A habit reinforced by love." Marco insisted.

"Not entirely but part of it is," Pepper shyly admitted with a blush. "The first time I looked in on him was to give him a glass of water and some Advil for the headache he would undoubtedly have this morning. The second was a little more personal."

"Personal to you or him?" Marco asked gently.

"Him for the most part," Pepper sighed. "Since he came home from Afghanistan, he doesn't sleep well. When he actually does sleep, he is usually plagued with nightmares that he wakes up screaming from. Once I found out about this, I started to stay more often in one of the guest rooms so I could take care of him during the night if he needed me. I guess I have trained myself somewhat to listen for him and last night I thought I had heard him. I went the second time to make sure he was alright."

"If that is not love, I do not know what is." Marco stated. "It makes me happy that my nephew has found a woman to love and who loves him back, especially after the wretched life he had led. My only question to you is when are you going to tell him how you feel about him? Don't wait as long as a stubborn old man did to tell the person you love, that you love them. You never truly know how long you will get with them."  
"Are you trying to steal the best thing that ever happened to me away?" Tony's voice came from the house as he invaded the moment between Pepper and Marco. "Am I interrupting something?" Tony asked further when he noticed Pepper was a deep shade of crimson with embarrassment.

Marco smiled. "Not at all, Antony. I was just getting to know this remarkable woman better. You have quite a gem here."

"Io ricordo ogni giorno," Tony said purposely in Italian so Pepper wouldn't know that he said he was reminded every day as he pulled his sunglasses out of his back pocket and asked Carmina for a double espresso with a cappuccino chaser.

Before she left, Marco stopped his housekeeper. "Carmina, porta la colazione alla terrazza, per favore." He instructed before turning back to Pepper and Tony. "I figured breakfast is appropriate since everyone is awake and we'll finish with enough time for you to still catch your train back to Monte Carlo."

"I was worried about that given Tony's propensity for not being an early riser." Pepper said with a hint of laughter.

Tony just stuck his tongue out at Pepper before shooting back his double espresso.

By the time breakfast had finished, Marco's driver had pulled up to the front of the villa. Tony asked when he had called the car as he gathered the bags. Marco just told him he thought it would make it easier on them.

* * *

The good byes were more difficult than originally anticipated. Before yesterday, it would have been cold, curt and barely more than an obligatory acknowledgement. As Tony helped Marco's driver put their things in the car, Marco took the opportunity to say good bye to Pepper.

"Remember, don't wait so long. Love is a treasure that is not meant to be buried." Marco whispered into her ear as he hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Pepper smiled and nodded in understanding. "I promise." Pepper assured him as she moved towards the car.

"Antony," Marco called out as he crooked his finger to summon Tony.

Tony sighed at the summoning but did go to his uncle.

Marco took a hold of Tony's face and quickly kissed both cheeks before looking his nephew in the eye. "You have more of your mother in you than people give you credit for and she would be proud of you," he told him. "Make sure you visit the next time you are close by."

"I will zio Marco. I promise," Tony whispered as he was very touched by what his uncle had said before he collected himself and got into the car with Pepper.

As the drove away, Tony swore he saw Marco pull out a cell phone as they left.

The ride to the train was a great deal smoother than the ride from it yesterday. Tony always said it paid to have a good driver and it paid to pay them well. That was why Happy did so well for a chauffeur/bodyguard.

As their bags were being loaded on the train, Pepper stopped at the door and turned, giving Tony a quick kiss on the lips and told him 'thank you' before turning away from him and hopping up into the train.

Tony stood on the platform with an utterly dumbfounded look on his face as Pepper got on the train before his brain rebooted and got his feet moving. "Thank you for what?" he called as he got on the train after her.

"For everything, Tony," Pepper said sweetly as she took her seat in the compartment. "For this trip, for letting me take your day with something that was incredibly difficult for you, and just for you being here with me. Stuff like that really gets to me…better than any flowers that die in a week."

"I'll need to keep that in mind," Tony said as he stretched out with a groan on the seat across from Pepper. "You wanna know what was difficult? Sleeping on Marco's couch. That thing was at least eight inches too short for me. I am so taking advantage of that spa when we get back and getting a deep tissue massage unless you want to save me the money and do it for me," he teased with a playful smirk.

"That would cost you, Tony," Pepper said warmly as she playfully tossed a pillow at him.

Tony caught the pillow that was thrown at him and shoved it behind his head. "It could be a massage for two…I never limited that out."


	19. 95 Speed

There was always an advantage to waking up before Tony and Pepper knew it well. This was something she had learned very quickly early on. Without Tony around to pester and distract her, Pepper could make very quick work of any correspondence, appointments and setting something up that she didn't want Tony to know about such as personal appointments and surprises for him. This was one of those occasions.

Pepper had thought of this during the early days of the vacation when she was trying to avoid Tony. While driving around Monaco she managed to stumble upon the Automobile Club de Monaco, the home of the Monaco Grand Prix among other things. Upon further investigation she also discovered that with the right leverage and bank account, you could arrange for a private session to drive the cars around the track. So when the opportunity arose while Tony was getting his massage after returning from Italy, Pepper called up Marco to help her with the language barrier and set up a time where Tony could take one of the Formula Uno cars and race a practice round with some of the world class drivers. Even though she remembered she had promised to let him pick what he wanted to do after going to visit his uncle, Pepper knew that Tony would absolutely love this.

In the few precious hours that Pepper had before Tony was active, she managed to secure the appointment at the auto club, arrange transportation to get there, get showered and dressed and order breakfast for herself and Tony. Not bad for having to deal with the language barrier. But truth be told, all of those tasks were easy compared to waking up Tony.

The night before, Tony had come back from his much needed massage at the spa and collapsed rather boneless into his bed and fell dead asleep. When Pepper cracked his bedroom door open with a cup of coffee this is where she found him still, sprawled over his bed on his stomach in his underwear with the blankets kicked off. All she could do was laugh to herself as she set the coffee on the night stand and opened up the curtains to let the sunlight fill the room. "Time to get up, Tony," she said brightly.

Tony groaned and rolled over so his back was to the window. "Has anyone every explained the concept of a vacation, Potts?" he grumbled. "It means alarm clocks don't freaking exist."

"But they do when we have an appointment to keep," Pepper added in as she made sure to waft the smell of the coffee to Tony's nose.

"What appointment?" Tony asked as he slowly lifted his head. "Last time I checked it was MY day to pick what we did because I distinctly recall a promise made before we went to visit Marco."

Pepper sighed as she tried to think of the right words. "I know Tony but I thought of something that I know you would absolutely love and it just couldn't be passed up. Trust me on this."

"And if I don't absolutely love it…as you say…what do I get in return?" Tony asked as he sat up finally and took the offered coffee.

"If you don't absolutely and totally love this like I think you will I will let you have any one day you want totally to yourself when we get home and you get to skip out on any one meeting of your choosing," Pepper offered up, fairly certain in her statement to be saying something that bold.

Tony smirked behind his coffee. This was almost too good to be true and too easy to go back on. "I want that in writing," he stated.

"Excuse me?" Pepper said taken aback. "You want it in writing? You don't believe me?"

"I believe you just fine but this has too many loopholes from where I see it. I want it on paper so I can back it up," Tony said as he pulled a pad of paper and a pen from the nightstand and tossed it at Pepper.

"This is ridiculous, Tony," Pepper stated as she looked at the presented pad and pen.

"Ridiculous or not, I am not going anywhere until I see this in writing." Tony stated firmly as he urged her again. "Do I need to dictate it? Fine. Write this, I, Virginia Potts do hereby swear that if my boss, Anthony Stark, does not absolutely love what I have picked out as an activity on his day, he gets to skip out on any one meeting he chooses and do whatever he wants and with whoever he wants upon returning to Los Angeles."

Pepper rolled her eyes as she wrote down what Tony said verbatim and then presented it to him for approval.

Tony looked it over and smiled. "You forgot to sign it."

With a huff, Pepper signed it and ripped off the page for Tony. "Now, will you please get ready? The car is picking us up in an hour."

Tony knocked back his coffee and took the letter smugly as he got out of bed and headed into the shower.

Just under an hour later, Tony and Pepper were slipping into the waiting car for Pepper's surprise. In the brief second that Tony was distracted; Pepper took the opportunity to pull a sheer silk scarf out of her bag and placed it over his eyes to try to keep what she was planning a surprise.

The scarf did not go over as intended though. Tony froze when it was placed over his eyes and tried to pull it away almost as quick and his rather joyful mood vanished in a blink.

"Tony, I'm sorry," Pepper apologized quickly when she noticed the tension in his body. She should have known better. She had seen the video sent to Obadiah. "I just wanted this to be a surprise."

"I'm not angry," Tony said quietly as he kept his gaze out the window. "It was just that _THEY _did something similar but it was with a burlap sack. Being taken someplace blindly and not knowing where I'm going still sits a bit uneasy." He explained a bit further as the tone of his voice seemed to calm. "Then again you could just tell me where we're going and that would solve everything."

"That negates the point of a surprise, Tony." Pepper said, registering the fact that he just revealed a bit about his captivity which he never had before. "You can just close your eyes, you know."

Tony shook his head. "I'll peek," he admitted. "You'll just have to get creative if you want to keep this a surprise."

As the car pulled up to the Auto club, Pepper gently put her hands over Tony eyes even though she knew he was peeking through her fingers or at least trying to. When the car stopped at the best possible view, Pepper released her hands to let Tony see where she had taken them.

"This is the Auto club." He stated once he recognized his location. "Are we watching the Grand Prix?"

"Not exactly," Pepper said with a smile. "You are going get to drive it…well your own mini version of it."

Tony blinked in shock and it took him a minute to find his voice. "I get to drive the Monaco Grand Prix?"

"Sort of," Pepper corrected. "I found out that you can lease the track for a time if you have the right connections and bank account to go with it so I pulled a few strings and a few of the drivers agreed to let you go around with them during one of their practice days."

"How did you manage all of this?" Tony exclaimed as he barely restrained himself from jumping with joy.

"Well I found the Auto club on one of the days that I was trying to avoid you and I knew you would love it," Pepper admitted. "To set it up…I had to call Torino."

"You called my Uncle Marco?"

"He helped with the language barrier and said to consider it a belated birthday and Christmas present for all those that he missed." Pepper said as she nudged Tony to get out of the car. "Now go or you'll miss your appointment."

For once, Tony did not need to be told twice.

Not long after Tony bolted from the car, Pepper was given a prime spot to watch everything from the finish line stands as she watched Tony slide into a red and black Ferrari F60 along with the other five drivers that he was going against in the ninety minute practice session which took place prior to the weekend's main competition.

Once everyone was in the cars, Pepper looked up to the lights above the start line go from red to green and then saw Tony quickly bolt out in front, similar to what he did while driving on the freeways of California in his Audi. She had a sinking suspicion that the other drivers were holding back a little bit to let Tony win until about the third lap around the street track when two of the other drivers started to jockey for the first position, sending Tony into third. Given his extremely competitive nature, Pepper knew exactly what was about to happen. Keeping a trained eye on Tony's car, she watched it start to dodge through the other cars and she could help but cheer for him as he pulled back into first as they crossed the finish line.

By the time Tony had slowed down to a stop after crossing the line, Pepper was waiting by the side of the track for him with a genuine smile on her face at seeing his pure joy in that.

Barely after he had turned off the engine, Tony slid out of the car, ran over to Pepper and before she could get a syllable past her lips, he had picked her up, spun her around in sheer joy and planted a big kiss right on her lips.

"I take it this means you liked your surprise?" Pepper said a little breathlessly as she recovered from the shock of the kiss.

"Liked it?!" Tony exclaimed as he finally set her back down. "I am getting one of these things when we get home. I'll store it in the garage and drive it around the parking lot of SI. Sounds perfect. Make a note to call Ferrari when we get back to LA."

Pepper just rolled her eyes and shook her head as she nudged him off to get out of the fire suit so they could go back to the hotel. As he was walking away, Pepper pulled the letter out of his wallet that she had signed and tore it up into little pieces. Given his reaction, their 'contract' was now null and void.

By the time evening had come around and the adrenaline had worn off from Tony's little racing adventure, the hint of depression when a vacation comes to an end was starting to set in. To end things on the best note possible, Tony made reservations for dinner at sunset at the outdoor grill to enjoy every last bit that the Mediterranean could offer.

After dinner was done and without saying a word, Tony took a hold of Pepper's hand and guided her down to the beach. The beach was lit up by the lights of the hotel, the brilliantly shining moon and the faint glow of the arc reactor through Tony's shirt, allowing them just enough light to see to take off their shoes before they walked through the small breaking waves on the shore. As they walked, Tony could faintly hear the music coming from the hotel and he pulled Pepper close to him.

"Dance with me, Potts," he whispered as he took her hand and put his arm around her waist.

Pepper laughed a little but did not resist as much as she did at the Fireman's benefit. "There's no music, Tony," she protested.

"Listen carefully and you'll hear it," Tony whispered as he started to slowly move with her.

Pepper relaxed and closed her eyes as Tony started to lead in the dance. She did hear the music now intermingled with the waves crashing around their feet. A sweet end to a wonderful vacation.


	20. 83 Home

There was an advantage to having your own jet when going home from a fabulous vacation. It meant that you could leave when you wanted and there were no harried rushes to the airport and lost luggage. It didn't mean that it made going home any easier.

Home based habits were starting to slip back into the vacation routine. Pepper awoke far earlier than necessary for a Saturday and hit the floor running. By the time Tony had awoke two hours later, she had already checked to make sure the luggage was packed and ready to go twice, gone through the daily emails and sent a text to Happy to make sure he was at the airport to pick them up when they landed.

Tony was clearly not as eager to head home. After getting showered and dressed, but purposely not shaving since their bet was over, he flopped down on the couch and watched Pepper flitter about the room.

"You know I can make things a whole lot easier and just call Mary to free us up for another few weeks and problem solved," Tony stated to the Pepper blur that went by him.

"As much as I would love to stay Tony, we need to get back home," Pepper countered. "I'm not saying that we can't do this again at some other time."

"What reason is so pressing that it can't wait?" Tony inquired. "We are having way too much fun here."

"I hate to break the news to you but there are such things called work that will need your attention," Pepper replied with a slightly jovial tone before it turned a bit downward. "As well as your new hobby."

"If you haven't noticed I have barely mentioned my 'hobby' as you called it for most of this vacation," Tony pointed out. "And if we must leave today, we might as well enjoy every last second before hitting the jet. Let's go, Potts. Breakfast on the beach," he added as he moved towards the door with Pepper following behind him.

Breakfast on the Mediterranean put living in Malibu to shame but that was the final good bye. After they were finished, bags were packed, room keys turned in and the car took them back to the airport where Tony's jet was waiting for them. By the time they got on the plane, old habits take a firm hold. As the plane took off, Tony graciously offered the bedroom to Pepper to prevent jetlag but he also threw in that he wouldn't mind joining her. When his comment was brushed aside without acknowledgement beyond a thank you for the room, both fell into companionable silence during the flight while working on their respective laptops. Tony had put his ear phones in and started plugging away on his latest set of ideas for upgrades to his armor while Pepper managed the rest of Tony's life.

Fifteen hours later, Tony's jet landed at LAX and Happy was dutifully waiting for Tony and Pepper with the car. Of course the suggestion was made to stay at the mansion but Pepper reminded Tony that she probably had a lot of dead plants to dispose of at her own place and declined his offer.

Tony's Malibu mansion was closer to the airport than Pepper's condo so he had the pleasure of being let off first. He unloaded his bags from the car and dropped them by the door as Jarvis unlocked it and allowed the master of the house inside.

"Welcome home, sir," Jarvis dutifully stated.

"Thanks Jarvis."

As Tony was walking up to the door, Pepper followed him and without saying a word, put her hand on his shoulder first to turn him around before wrapping her arms around his neck and capturing his lips in a deep kiss.

Tony was stunned and shocked by this unexpected and entirely wanted turn of events but when she didn't immediately pull away like she did at the train, he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

When Pepper finally broke the kiss, she stepped back from Tony just as silently as she approached, looked back and smiled as she walked back to the car - no good bye; no I love you - just the smile.

"Jarvis? Did you get all of that on tape?" Tony asked as he mentally recovered and took his bags inside the house finally.

"Yes sir, right down to the attempted ass grab."

"Pepper tried to grab my ass as well? I think I would have noticed that."

"I meant yours to hers, sir." Jarvis corrected.

"I did nothing of the sort. If I had, it wouldn't be an attempt. I would have succeeded." Tony stated. "Save that video to my personal files. I don't want to forget that one ever."

"As you wish, sir."

_Finito_

_Author's Note: Special thanks to Tamasit1 (essentially my co-author with how much she helped) and Cincoflex for some late night chat sessions. Stay tuned for the sequel!_


End file.
